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Using Confocal Analysis of Xenopus laevis to Investigate Modulators of Wnt and Shh Morphogen Gradients
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Functional evolution of a morphogenetic gradient.

Chun Wai Kwan1, Jackie Gavin-Smyth2, Edwin L Ferguson1,3

  • 1Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States.

Elife
|December 23, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) shape embryonic development. Evolutionary changes in BMP signaling networks explain how fly embryos gained tissue complexity, leading to new body plans.

Keywords:
Bone Morphogenetic ProteinD. melanogasterMegaselia abditaamniondevelopmental biologyeigerpositive feedbackserosastem cells

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) are crucial for patterning the dorsal-ventral axis in bilaterian embryos.
  • The evolutionary roles of BMPs in shaping body plan complexity remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional evolution of BMP signaling in fly embryos.
  • To understand how changes in BMP signaling dynamics contribute to differences in extraembryonic tissue specification.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of BMP signaling in basal-branching flies (Megaselia abdita) and Drosophila melanogaster.
  • Examination of gene regulatory network changes controlling BMP signaling.
  • Investigating the role of the tumor necrosis factor alpha homolog, eiger, in BMP feedback circuits.

Main Results:

  • BMP signaling specifies distinct extraembryonic tissues (serosa and amnion) in M. abdita, versus a single amnioserosa in D. melanogaster.
  • Differences in BMP gradient dynamics at gastrulation correlate with tissue specification divergence.
  • Evolutionary alterations in a gene regulatory network controlling a BMP positive feedback loop, involving eiger, underlie these differences.

Conclusions:

  • Spatiotemporal dynamics of morphogen gradients are shaped by evolutionary changes in gene regulatory networks.
  • These changes provide a mechanism for the evolution of tissue complexity and body plan diversification.