Parallel microtubules and other conserved elements of dorsal axial specification in the direct developing frog,...

Specification of the dorsal axis in commonly studied frogs, such as Xenopus laevis and Rana pipiens, depends on a microtubule-mediated movement of cytoplasm in the fertilized egg. The Puerto Rican tree frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, has an egg that is twenty times the volume of that of X. laevis, raising the question as to whether the mechanism of dorsal axial specification is conserved in these large eggs. Fertilized eggs of E. coqui develop a transient array of parallel microtubules, similar to other frogs, but proportionately larger. The array persists after first cleavage, longer than in other frogs, and is gone by the third cleavage. Correlated with the longer life of the parallel microtubules, both 2- and 8-cell E. coqui embryos remain sensitive to gravity-mediated axial specification, a sensitivity lost in X. laevis before the 2-cell stage. Activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway by injected Xwnt8 RNA causes axial formation as in X. laevis. The results indicate that elements of dorsal axial specification are conserved in E. coqui, but they occur later compared to in X. laevis.