Mesoderm and Myogenesis Flashcards
what are morphogens?
substance that can elicit different responses in a cell depending on its concentration
what is the idea of morphogens?
- cell needs positional information
- have a source of a signal
- at the source the field of cells is really concentrated
- forms a gradient and diffuses away from the source
- diffusion from a source establishes a concentration gradient of a secreted signal
- sensing the concentration of the signal in the immediate environment tells a cell where it is relative to the signalling source
- cells are able to sense the local concentration of the signal and respond in different ways depending on concentration
describe the french flag model
- simple pattern of 3 different states
- source → cells have the potential to respond in 3 different ways
- the source is at one end → it diffuses into a gradient
- each cell can read out its position and get its positional value
- gets to the concentration, senses the local environment and finds its position
- there are discrete thresholds → above which a cell responds one way and below which the cells responds a different way
- the concentration gradient can be interpreted in many different ways
- could generate other patterns with different or more threshold response
why are frog embryos good to study
lay their eggs external → developing outside the mother → they’re also relatively large eggs → they all divide at the same time and it’s also quite rapid with no growth
describe the stages the frog embryo goes through
- blastula formation
- gastrulation
- phylotypic stage
what is the blastula?
fluid filled cavitiy, have cells on the outside - need to be rearranged
what is gastrulation?
- forming the gut
- cells of the mesoderm move in
- original cavity disappears and a new cavity is formed (the gut)
- anus forms first and the mouth forms second
- driven by the dorsal mesoderm
what are the stages of early development?
Cleavage → no growth, rapid Blastula → fluid filled cavity forms Gastrula → cell movements, formation of 3 germ layers Neurula → Neural tissue forms Tailbud → phylotypic stage
what are the 3 germ layers?
- ectoderm
- mesoderm
- endoderm
what does the ectoderm form?
epidermis and CNS
what does the mesoderm form?
notochord, dermis, skeleton, muscle, kidney, heart and blood
what does the endoderm form?
forms the gut, liver, pancreas and lungs
how are the embryo germ layers organised in amphibian blastula stage?
ectoderm = on the animal pole endoerm = at the vegetal pole mesoderm = forms the cells at the equator
describe the the formation of mesoderm in blastula
- marginal zon explants from early blastula embryos only form epidermis
- marginal zone explant from late blastula embryo for mesoderm
- early blastula = no mesoderm
- late blastula = there is mesoderm
what do signals from the vegetal pole induce?
mesoderm in animal cap (ectoderm) explants
how did they find out that signals from the vegetal pole induced mesoderm?
By labeling the animal cap cells with a fluorescent dye, it was found that all the mesoderm is derived from the animal cap
No mesoderm arises from the vegetal cells
We can conclude that the vegetal cells produce a mesoderm inducing signal
Animal cap gives rise to mesoderm in response to signals form vegetal cells
describe the experiment by Peter Nieuwkoop on signals from the vegetal cap
Vegetal cells produced two distinct signals
On signal induced extreme ventral mesoderm (mainly blood and smooth muscle)
One signal induced extreme dorsal mesoderm (mainly notochord)
Small dorsal vegetal (DV) region induces extreme dorsal mesoderm
Large ventral vegetal (VV) region induces extreme ventral mesoderm
These experiments idneitfy DV and VV cells as the source of mesoderm inducing signals
However, they do not induce the full range of mesodermal tissues eg muscle and kidney
what do cell lineages show about the muscle?
- that during normal development most of the skeletal muscle comes from the VMZ but in isolation forms very little
- combinations most of the muscle and kidney come from VMZ derived cells
what do combinations of late blastula/early gastrula VMZ (ventral marginal zone) and DMZ (Dorsal Marginal Zone) will give rise to?
all mesodermal tissue types
what is observation 1?
marginal zone cells explaned from late blastula embryos form mesoderm
what experiments support observation 1?
Experiment 1: Cells of the vegetal pole can induce the cells of the animal pole to form mesoderm
Experiment 2: Cells of the dorsal vegetal pole induce extreme dorsal mesoderm while ventral cells induce extreme ventral mesoderm. SOme types of mesoderm do not form
what is observation 2?
Ventral marginal zone cells explanted from early gastrula embryos do not form much skeletal muscle but in normal development these cells do form skeletal muscle
what experiments support observation 2?
l muscle
Experiment 3: Combining DMZ with the VMZ explants from early gastrula embryos results in the formation of the full range of mesoderm derivatives
VMZ cells form muscle, kidney etc in response to the DMZ
what does the three signal model do?
Provides a framework to think about the signals important during mesoderm induction and patterning