Development Flashcards
Maternal Inheritance
Nearly all the cytoplasm and mitochondria of the zygote is from the egg
Establishment of Axes in Frogs
- Polarity of egg determines the anterior-posterior axis before fertilization
- At fertilization, pigmented cortex slides over underlying cytoplasm toward point of sperm entry (animal hemisphere). This rotation exposes a region of lighter-colored cytoplasm, aka the gray crescent, which is a marker of the future dorsal side
- The first cleavage division bisects the gray crescent. Once the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes are defined, so is the left-right axis.
Cytoplasmic determinants and establishment of axes/gradients
Beta-catenin (TF) and GSK-3 (protein kinase) are found throughout cytoplasm but GSK-3 inhibitor is localized at vegetal pole in cortex
What activates GSK-3 in frog eggs?
fertilization
What happens after GSK-3 is activated in frog eggs?
Beta-catenin is phosphorylated by GSK-3 and targeted for degradation
What stops beta-catenin from being degraded?
GSK-3 inhibitor moves to the gray crescent and prevents beta-catenin degradation > higher conc. of beta-catenin on dorsal side than ventral side
What initiates gastrulation?
Beta-catenin turns on genes in the dorsal side of the embryo
Experimental manipulations of beta-catenin
-Depleted: NO gastrulation
-Overexpressed: a second axis of embryo formation induced
*Beta-catenin acts as the primary embryonic organizer (sets up all three axes)
What largely influences the patterns of cleavage?
the amount and distribution of yolk in the embryo
Cleavage in human cells
- 2 cell stage w/ polar body and zona pellucida encircling cells
- 4-cell stage w/ zona pellucida (no polar body)
- 8-cell stage
- Compaction
- Morula + zona pellucida begins to degenerate
- early blastocyst and cells move to one side
- late blastocyst (trophoblast) w/ inner cell mass
What happens if blastomeres are separated in an early stage?
2 embryos result = identical twins (genetically identical/monozygotic twins)
What happens if the blastomeres are not separated but the inner cell mass separates in the later trophoblast?
Conjoined twins
What are fraternal twins?
The result of two separate oocytes fertilized by two separate sperm and are not genetically identical
What does cleavage result in?
Repackaging of egg cytoplasm into cells of blastula; cells get diff amts of nutrients and cytoplasmic determinants
What is gastrulation?
The process by which a blastula is transformed into an embryo w/ three tissue layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm
What does the ectoderm become?
brain and nervous system, epidermis of skin