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Updated: May 31, 2026
Double Whole Mount in situ Hybridization of Early Chick Embryos
Published on: October 27, 2008
[PTEN impedes EMT during chick embryo gastrulation]
Yan Li1, Xiao-Yu Wang, Li-Jing Wang
1Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine Ministry of Education, Division of Histology amp; Embryology Medical College, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China. li_yan_lee@126.com
Insights
PTEN, a key anti-oncogene, is crucial for embryonic development. This study shows PTEN regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during chick gastrulation, impacting cell migration and differentiation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Molecular oncology
Context:
- PTEN (Phosphatase and tensin homolog) is a critical tumor suppressor gene with diverse biological functions.
- PTEN expression is observed during early chick embryo development, particularly in the epiblast, neural plate, and mesoderm.
- These expression patterns suggest a potential role for PTEN in cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation.
Purpose:
- To investigate the role of endogenous PTEN in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during early chick embryo development using an in vivo approach.
- To explore the functional consequences of PTEN modulation on gastrulation and mesoderm formation.
Summary:
- PTEN is highly expressed in the primitive streak during chick gastrulation, a key site of EMT.
- Overexpression of PTEN (Wt PTEN-GFP) in the primitive streak or whole embryo led to cell accumulation, indicating blocked EMT.
- Down-regulation of PTEN using siRNA reduced mesoderm cell formation, further supporting PTEN's role in regulating EMT during gastrulation.
Impact:
- This research elucidates PTEN's involvement in regulating EMT during embryonic gastrulation.
- Findings contribute to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying early embryonic development and cancer suppression.
- Highlights PTEN as a potential target for developmental studies and cancer research.
Abstract:
PTEN has been considered as one of the important anti-oncogenes, which possesses very wide biological activities. Endogenous PTEN genes begin to express in epiblast during chick embryo gastrulation, and then the expression extends to neural plate and mesoderm. This suggests that PTEN might be involved in cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation during early embryo development. In this study, we employed in vivo approach to explore if endogenous PTEN participates in EMT (Epithelial-mesenchymal transition) in early chick embryo. PTEN was initially detected to highly express in primitive streak during chick gastrulation, in which EMT occurs, and subsequently mesoderm structure such as somites etc. Then, overexpression of both Wt PTEN-GFP and Wt PTEN-GFP positive transplantation of primitive streak resulted in cell accumulation in primitive streak in the development hereafter, indicating that EMT was blocked in both of our assays, either whole embryo transfection of Wt PTEN-GFP or transplantation of Wt PTEN-GFP primary streak tissue. Finally down-regulation of PTEN gene in one side using PTEN siRNA led to reduce the more number of mesoderm cells in PTNE siRNA side than normal side, which suggests that PTEN gene is probably involved in regulating EMT process in development of early embryonic gastrulation.
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