Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 6, 2026

High Throughput Microinjections of Sea Urchin Zygotes
12:40

High Throughput Microinjections of Sea Urchin Zygotes

Published on: January 21, 2014

Apoptosis in sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and early embryos

E Voronina1, G M Wessel

  • 1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, 69 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA.

Molecular Reproduction and Development
|December 18, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and embryos possess functional apoptotic machinery. Even metabolically quiescent eggs undergo programmed cell death, demonstrating conserved apoptosis pathways in marine invertebrates.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Marine Biology

Background:

  • Experimental manipulations can induce cell death in sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and embryos.
  • The presence and activation of functional apoptotic machinery in these cells were previously unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and early embryos have functional apoptotic machinery.
  • To determine if experimental cell death in these cells is due to programmed cell death pathway activation.

Main Methods:

  • Induction of apoptosis using staurosporine in sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and early embryos.
  • Evaluation of apoptosis using various assays, including morphological changes, chromatin condensation/degradation, and caspase activation.

Main Results:

  • Sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and embryos possess and activate the necessary apoptotic machinery.
  • Characteristic apoptotic phenotypes were observed following experimental induction.
  • Metabolically quiescent sea urchin eggs, despite completing meiosis, were surprisingly found to undergo apoptosis.

Conclusions:

  • Sea urchin oocytes, eggs, and embryos exhibit functional apoptosis, indicating conserved programmed cell death pathways.
  • The study highlights similarities and differences in apoptosis execution across different sea urchin cell types.
  • Findings are crucial for interpreting experiments involving targeted molecular interference in these model systems.

More Related Videos

The Power of Simplicity: Sea Urchin Embryos as in Vivo Developmental Models for Studying Complex Cell-to-cell Signaling Network Interactions07:34

The Power of Simplicity: Sea Urchin Embryos as in Vivo Developmental Models for Studying Complex Cell-to-cell Signaling Network Interactions

Published on: February 16, 2017

Apoptosis Induction and Detection in a Primary Culture of Sea Cucumber Intestinal Cells07:47

Apoptosis Induction and Detection in a Primary Culture of Sea Cucumber Intestinal Cells

Published on: January 21, 2020

Related Concept Videos

Oogenesis02:07

Oogenesis

In human women, oogenesis produces one mature egg cell or ovum for every precursor cell that enters meiosis. This process differs in two unique ways from the equivalent procedure of spermatogenesis in males. First, meiotic divisions during oogenesis are asymmetric, meaning that a large oocyte (containing most of the cytoplasm) and minor polar body are produced as a result of meiosis I, and again following meiosis II. Since only oocytes will go on to form embryos if fertilized, this unequal...
Cleavage and Blastulation01:33

Cleavage and Blastulation

After a large-single-celled zygote is produced via fertilization, the process of cleavage occurs while zygotes travel through the uterine tube. Cleavage is a mitotic cell division that does not result in growth. With each round of successive cell division, daughter cells get increasingly smaller.
Apoptosis01:30

Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a combination of two Greek words, 'apo' and 'ptosis,' meaning separation and falling off, respectively. Hippocrates used this word to describe gangrene, which was caused due to bandaging of fractured bones. Apoptosis was distinguished from necrosis in 1970 when John Kerr reported observations of morphological changes occurring during apoptosis. During one experiment, he observed that the disruption of blood supply to the liver tissue resulted in a size reduction of the tissue.
Oogenesis01:22

Oogenesis

Oogenesis,  the process of developing egg cells (female gametes), occurs within the ovaries and is fundamental to female fertility. This sequence begins during fetal development when diploid oogonia in the developing ovaries undergo mitotic divisions to produce primary oocytes. By birth, these primary oocytes enter prophase I of meiosis but become arrested in this stage, remaining suspended until puberty.
Each primary oocyte is surrounded by a layer of pre-granulosa cells, forming what is known...
Cellular Injury V: Apoptosis and Autophagy01:22

Cellular Injury V: Apoptosis and Autophagy

Cells respond to damage and stress through highly coordinated processes that decide whether they survive or undergo controlled self-destruction. Two major pathways involved in this regulation are apoptosis, a type of programmed cell death, and autophagy, a survival mechanism that helps cells adapt to adverse conditions.ApoptosisApoptosis removes aged or injured cells to maintain tissue balance. During this process, the cell shrinks, chromatin condenses and fragments, and membrane-bound...