Lecture 6: Mechanisms of Development Flashcards
What mechanisms drive development?
Genes
cell-cell communication
what is a homologous gene?
a gene similar in structure, evolutionary origin, and likely function, to a gene in another species
What is the concept of genomic equivalence?
all somatic cells have the same chromosomes (set of genes) as all other somatic cells
What does somatic nuclear transfer mean?
cloning
What does somatic nuclear transfer provide evidence for?
genomic equivalence (all cells have same genes)
In the first cloning project, what was fused?
nuclear donor: mammary gland cell nucleus
oocyte donor: enucleated oocyte
T/F: The nuceli of adult somatic cells contain all of the genes necessary to generate an adult organism
True
What is the concept that says the genetic material is the same in every cell, but only a small % of the genome is expressed in each cell type?
Differential gene expression
What are the four levels of gene expression regulation?
differential gene expression
selective nuclear RNA processing
selective mRNA translation
differential protein modification
What technique is used to determine the locations of mRNA expression?
RNA in situ hybridization
What are the 4 cellular processes through which differential gene expression is achieved?
- cell proliferation - producing many cells from one
- cell specialization - creating cells with different characteristics at different positions
- cell interactions: coordinating the behavior of one cell with that of its neighbors
- cell movement: rearranging cells to form structured tissues and organs
In cell induction, what do the inducer and responder do?
inducer - provides signal which changes behavior of target tissue
responder - tissue being induced
what must the responder have in cell induction?
competence - ability to respond to signal
What is an example of a cell induction system?
optic vesicle inducer
Xenopus laevis
How does the optic vesicle inducer in Xenopus work?
optic vesicle inducer indices lens formation in the anterior (head) portion of the ectoderm
cannot do so in the trunk or abdomen (tissues are not competent)
In the optic vesicle inducer in Xenopus, what happens if the optic vesicle is removed?
Surface ectoderm forms abnormal lens or no lens
What role does Pax6 play in Xenopus?
makes ectoderm competent to respond to signals from the optic vesicle (inducer)
What is the competence factor in Xenopus’s optic vesicle induction?
Pax6
What does a homozygous loss of Pax6 lead to?
fatal
almost complete failure of entire eye formation
What is aniridia?
heterozygous mutation to Pax6
not fatal
ocular defects