Mouse Flashcards
when you are talking about the AP patterning processes, what are people generally talking about?
the patterning of the AP axis of the neural tube
what is the difference between cell fate and specificaiton
- cells in a certain position that will give rise to a limb= cell fate. Fate- when you let development develop normally the fate that a cell will take- you measure cell fate by labelling them. specification is when a cell changes its gene expression so that it will form a certain tissue
what is naive tissue?
has the capacity to respond to a broad variety of signals because it has not been specified - can respond to a variety of signals
what is the anatomy of the early mouse embryo?
dpc= days post coetum- the days breed at midnight and you can check for plug
- the cells divide and after 16 cells division sat 3 days uou have a morula and then this becomes the blastocyst. This divides into two tissues- the trophoblast or the inner cell mass- the ICM gives rise to the embryo
- at implantation the inner cell mass divides into two types of cells- primitive endoderm (extraembryonic tissue mostly but some left over in the embryo) and the epiblast (embryo) then there is a blastocoel
- the primitive endoderm sinks into the cavity- surrounded by the endoderm at 5.5, at 6 the embryo there is no sign of what is A or P asymm is at 6.5 during gastrulation- the presence of the primitive streak which forms in the posterior- this streak elongates to the distal part and then forms the node - at the node the in the anterior part- there is the gut endoderm (definitive endoderm)- not the visceral endoderm which becomes replaced by the definitive endoderm derivatives
to generally form anterior nervous system what needs to happen?
- WNT and BMP inhibition
what is the anterior visceral endoderm?
it is the hypoblast in chicks
what is the importance of the AVE?
it inhibits WNT signals at the anterior point in mouse development
how do you find what the origin of the AVE?
- they did a labelling experiment- they labelled the the visceral endoderm and found that the distal visceral endoderm ended p in the AVE - they use DiI which gets attached to the membrane of the cell
what is the axial mesoendoderm?
prechordal plate in the mouse
from what is the AVE derived from?
distal visceral endoderm
when they did in situ for HEx, what did they find?
that is was in the primitve endoderm- then the ditsal visceral endoderm then the DVE- opposite the primitive streak (maybe the AVE determines whether the primitive streak is going to be ) then they saw that it is expessed in the area of the posterior after the AVE has expressed the hex
why did they think that the AVE was formed from the distal visceral endoderm initially?
because they had done in situ for hex and seen that the expression changes from the primitive endoderm and then in the ditsal visceral endoderm and then in the DVE.
where is Hex expressed at 6.5?
where the axial mesoendoderm should be in the definitive endoderm
what was seen about the Hex expression in the definitive endoderm in the node?
that the Hex expression is present in the AME and ADE and then this moves around with the node and replaces the AVE
what is the role of the initaly expression in the AVE from cells derived from the distal visceral endoderm and the movement of cells expressing Hex coming from the node?
the cells from the distal visceral endoderm initiate the patterning done by the AVE for the patterning of the anterior tissue, then the cells from the node reconstitute these bcause normal dveelopment push the inital cells away and the cells of the node activate the same programme an dthe same inhibitors so that the area of the AVE will still maintain the same signalling mechanisms
how can you label Hex expression?
use a reporter GFP hex consturct
where does the AVE lie?
under the ectodderm that will give rise to the anterior neural plate
in the region of the AVE that express Hex, what other egens are expressed in these cells?
genes such as WNT inhibitors
how did they look at what the fate of the visceral endoderm was?
- initially, from labelling people thought that it become the extraembryonic endoderm
- but then they used GFP and RFP- they used RFP to label the visceral endoderm and green to label the definitive endoderm - they found that some visceral endoderm cells were expressed in the definitve endoderm- not just displaced completely to become the extraembryonic endoderm
how can you see that some visceral endoderm forms some of the gut?
you can use GFP markers and in situ staining for markers of the visceral endoderm and you see it in al three sections of the gut
what was the old and new model for the fate of VE?
during gastrulation the epiblast displaces the visceral enoderm by migratin anteriorly and then displaces it completely- bu the new model is that- the cells from the tip of primitive streak start to interacalate in the visceral embryo and displace it almost completely
how did they go about finding the mouse organiser in the mouse?
- in the chick you transplant the hensen’s node then you get a secondary axis
- in the mouse this kind of test hadnt been done because the mouse is hard to transplant
what was the classical view of the AP axis formation?
the node forms in the posterior- moves anterior and then this patterns the anterior neural tissue and the AP axis
what was the experiment looking at the transplantation of the “organiser” in the mouse
at 7.5 days: she took mouse embryo and took piece of anterior endoderm and the node and transplanted individually - either the anterior ectoderm or the node into the lateral mesoderm- if the node was able to induce a full axis then you would see an axis - when you transplant the node you could never get anteriro neural folds
- you could get posterior ectoderm this show you need the AVE with the node
what happens when you remove the AVE? what did they tell us?
you can affect the patterning of the anterior neural plate- (Hesx1- expression in the anterior neural plate is reduced significantly) - this stells us that it might be important in the patterning of anterior neural plate
what genetic evidence was there for the AVEin particular being involved in the anterior neural plate?
Chimeras with Lim1-deficient AVE but normal ADE have the same brain defects as Lim1-/- embryos- they found that a lim1 mutant had no head- looked at the expression pattern of lim1 and found it have a pattern like Hex- in the AVE and ADE- you can generate chimeras to test in which of these this is needed- put wild type ES stem cells into a lim1 mutant - when you inject stem cells into the inner cell mass they normally do not colonies the primitive endoderm- this means that you will generate an AVE that is -/- but the defintive endoderm is +/+- this shoed there was still a truncation- showing the lim1 is required in the AVE
what were the general conclusions made from the AVE studies?
AP patterning is initiated prior to gastrulation by the AVE and later maintained by the node/ derivatives (AME, ADE)
• Several genes relevant for anterior patterning are expressed within the AVE (Hex, Hesx1, Lim1, Otx2, etc)
• Genetic evidence (i.e. knock-out and chimeric mice) supports the idea that AVE is required for anterior patterning
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• AVE is not sufficient to bestow permanent anterior patterning:
For example, it cannot maintain expression of forebrain markers for several hours or induce a head.
• AVE is not a head organiser, is a signalling centre
is AVE a head organiser?
no it is a signalling centre- it needs the support from the node and the derivatives like prechordal plate etc
what does the AVE secrete?
It antagonises posteriorising signals: Wnt, BMP and nodal.
• It secretes several secreted inhibitors such as Cerberus-1, DKK1, Lefty1.
what did the fact that lim1 is expressed in the AVE and is needed for head formation, before it is needed in the ADE?
this shows that the AVE is patterend before there is any neural induction and before the pirmitive streak - then the chimeric evidence and the KO gave evidence that the AVE is required prior to the ADE
how was it shown that the AVE was not an organiser? what was suggested due to this?
- transplantation of the AVE mostly could not form an entire axis alone- it can induce neural character but not for long enough - neural markers diminish after a while - so the AVE is a transient signalling component that is then maintained by the node- need to combine the AVE with the node to form a second axis
how did they show that an excess of WNT leads to loss of forbrain?
when you have a transgenic mouse expressing WNT8a the hesX1 marker becomes smaller- the cells in the anterior are respecified
so what is the general role of AVE in summary
- 5.5 the idtsal visceral endodderm cells express Hex and they are porgrammed to migrate to the anterior part of the mebryo and these cell express inhibitors of WNT and TGF-beta which are acting on the cells in the ectoderm
6. 5- primitive streak to formed in th eposterior and the then the axial mesoendoderm starts to migrate towards the AVE with the node - the WNT inhibiton by the AVE and of BMP results in the expression of Hesx1 in the forebrain - the AVE protects them from being induced by posteriorising signals
what is the AVE equivalent in other vertebrates?
- see picture- very good! for the chick you flatten the mouse plane and in the xenopus the AVE is what is pushed via ingression - hex is expressed in the relative region under the anterior ectoderm and in the chick it is expressed in the hypoblast too
what happens if you dont have the AVE?
the tissue turns into the posterior neural tissue
what is nodal flow?
flow within the node during LR asymm development
what is the first characateristic of LR asymmetry?
nodal expression in the lateral plate mesoderm
what happens if you express nodal on the right in the lateral plate mesoderm?
get left isomerism- two lefts
what shows that nodal expression determines left patterning?
if you express nodal on the right of the node and in the lateral plate mesoderm you get left isomerism- two lefts
what is weird about the expression of nodal on the left of the node and the expression in the lateral plate mesoderm?
the laterl plate mesodemr is far away from the node!
how were cilia in the node first identified?
microscopy- you could see the cilia moving
how was the left nodal flow first seen?
if you put particles in the nodal flow you see that the is a leftward flow
how was the leftward movement of the cilia at the node shown to be important?
if you mutant the microtubules so no flow- you get two lefts
what are the two equivalents to the cilia in the note in vertebrates?
- the kupffer’s vesicle in the zebrafihs, the gastrocoel roof plate in the xenopus
how do the cillia insitgate the leftward flow?
they tilt towards the posterior to stop just a vortex
is the leftward flow of the cilia the symmetry breaking step in mice?
no ! must be something which causes the leftward flow
what were the two models for the mechanism of nodal flow?
determinant molecules are sent leftwards or there is a mechanism stress on the left