Cellular interactions involved in the determination of the early C. elegans embryo

Classical work implied that early nematode embryogenesis is completely mosaic. This view was lately challenged by the demonstration that in C. elegans an early interaction has to occur to induce the production of muscle from a blastomere. Here, early embryonic blastomeres were inactivated by laser microsurgery. The cell lineages of irradiated embryos were compared to those of intact embryos. It is shown that one blastomere, MS, is required for the specification of mesodermal pharyngeal fates and another blastomere, P2, for the specification of hypodermal fates from the descendants of the AB blastomere, whereas the proper specification of the nervous system requires the presence of both. The irradiation of a third blastomere shows that interactions also occur within the ectoderm. I propose that the body plan of the C. elegans embryo may be established by two primary signals followed by secondary interactions. The suggested mechanisms are reminiscent of those involved in amphibian development.