Cell death during germ band inversion, dorsal closure, and nervous system development in the spider Cupiennius salei

Cell death is an important feature in the development of animals, because it is one possibility for the embryo to control cell number in developing tissues and thereby determine the form of a growing organ. In Drosophila, cell death has been shown to be involved in the shaping of many different organs of the embryo. We have used terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxygenin nick end labeling (TUNEL) and an antibody against the activated form of caspase-3 to visualize cell death in the spider Cupiennius salei. We find that similar to Drosophila, massive cell death occurs during the development of the nervous system, suggesting that this is an ancestral feature in the arthropods. We also detect cell death during leg development, most probably related to the formation of tarsal sensory organs. No cell death seems to be required for germ band segmentation. Most importantly, we find that cell death has a role in germ band inversion, a morphogenetic event unique to spiders that involves epithelial fission ventrally and tissue fusion dorsally. Our data show that germ band inversion involves cell death to facilitate the ventral splitting of the germ band, as well as the epithelial fusion during dorsal closure.