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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 4, 2026

Generation of Dispersed Presomitic Mesoderm Cell Cultures for Imaging of the Zebrafish Segmentation Clock in Single Cells

Generation of Dispersed Presomitic Mesoderm Cell Cultures for Imaging of the Zebrafish Segmentation Clock in Single Cells

Published on: July 24, 2014

Somites without a clock.

Ana S Dias¹, Irene de Almeida¹, Julio M Belmonte²

¹Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|January 11, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

A segmentation clock and wavefront mechanism are not required for vertebrate somitogenesis. Somites can form simultaneously with normal size and fate, challenging established models of embryonic development.

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Last Updated: May 4, 2026

Generation of Dispersed Presomitic Mesoderm Cell Cultures for Imaging of the Zebrafish Segmentation Clock in Single Cells

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Published on: July 24, 2014

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Three and Four-Dimensional Visualization and Analysis Approaches to Study Vertebrate Axial Elongation and Segmentation

Three and Four-Dimensional Visualization and Analysis Approaches to Study Vertebrate Axial Elongation and Segmentation

Published on: February 28, 2021

Area of Science:

Developmental biology
Embryology
Molecular biology

Background:

Vertebrate body segmentation relies on somite formation.
The segmentation clock and clock-and-wavefront model are thought to regulate somite development.
Notch pathway genes are implicated in cyclic gene expression during somitogenesis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the necessity of the clock-and-wavefront mechanism for somite formation.
To determine if somites can form independently of cyclic gene expression.
To analyze the axial identity and segmentation of somites formed without the canonical clock-and-wavefront model.

Main Methods:

Treatment of non-somite mesoderm with Noggin.
Analysis of somite formation timing and gene expression (Notch-pathway, Hox code).
Assessment of somite size, shape, fate, and axial identity.

Main Results:

Somites formed simultaneously without cyclic Notch-pathway gene expression.
These somites exhibited normal size, shape, and fate.
Axial identity was established independently of somite fate, but rostral-caudal subdivision was absent.

Conclusions:

The clock-and-wavefront mechanism is not essential for generating somites.
Somites may be self-organizing structures regulated by local cell-cell interactions.
The absence of rostral-caudal subdivision in these somites impacts neural segmentation.