Parameters influencing reversal of segment sequence in posterior egg fragments ofCallosobruchus (Coleoptera)

The "double abdomen" type of embryonic segment pattern can develop in posterior fragments ofCallosobruchus eggs. In this type of pattern, a series of posterior segments is joined in reversed polarity to an equal set from the original pattern persisting in normal polarity. Reversed and non-reversed sets are fused in a plane of mirror symmetry, which shows in the larval cuticle as a "symmetry line". This line may be located anywhere in the posterior thorax or the anterior abdomen. The reversed abdomen may be incomplete caudally due to secondary causes. Polarity reversal and concomitant double abdomen formation occurred only when temporary constriction was terminated before cellularization of the blastoderm, and only when the anterior fragment was degenerating. Maximum reversal frequency was 94% of analyzable posterior partial larvae when the constriction was applied slightly anterior to the middle of the egg when the egg contained 4-32 nuclei. Reversal was often restricted to longitudinal strips of the larval cuticle. The longitudinal borderlines between the reversed and the non-reversed strips ran predominantly along the larval midlines. Such borderlines probably existed in the blastoderm anywhere around its circumference, but borderlines in the future mesoderm and serosa would be internalized during gastrulation and dorsal closure, respectively, and the embryonic midlines would then become secondary borderlines visible in the larval cuticle. If a morphogen is involved in segment pattern formation, its transport in the egg must be polarized longitudinally in order to account for reversals restricted to longitudinal cuticular strips.