Regenerate Limb Bud Sufficient for Claw Reversal in Adult Snapping Shrimps

The paired, bilaterally asymmetric snapper and pincer claws in the adult snapping shrimp Alpheus heterochelis were simultaneously autotomized at the beginning of an intermolt, and the resulting growth of the limb buds was characterized into several stages. At the next molt the limb buds emerged as newly regenerated claws of the same morphotype as their predecessors. Next, the paired claws were autotomized sequentially, with the second autotomy timed to different stages of limb bud growth at the first autotomy site. When the snapper is autotomized and a limb bud varying from stages 1 to 5 is allowed to develop at this site before the pincer is removed, the paired claws regenerate in their previous configuration. Similarly, claw asymmetry is retained when the pincer claw is removed first and an early limb bud (stage 1-2) is allowed to form at this site before the snapper is autotomized. However, claw asymmetry is reversed if an advanced limb bud (stage 3-5) is allowed to form at the pincer site before the snapper claw is removed. Under these conditions a snapper regenerates at the pincer site and a pincer at the snapper site. Because the limb bud at this pincer site regenerates as a snapper rather than a pincer, claw transformation has occurred, with the stage 3-5 limb bud substituting for an intact pincer. Therefore, the minimal requirement for pincer-to-snapper transformation is a stage 3-5 limb bud. We postulate that the newly transforming snapper claw restricts regeneration at the contralateral old snapper site to a pincer, thereby ensuring that claw bilateral asymmetry is present, albeit reversed.