Relationship between ectopic germinal vesicle breakdown in Xenopus oocytes and dorsal development of the embryo

The early development of several species involves the segregation of cytoplasmic components into different regions of the egg. In Xenopus zygotes, a 30° rotation displaces the central animal cytoplasm to the future dorsal side of the embryo. To elucidate the role of the central animal cytoplasm in dorsal determination, we induced germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) closer to the equator by cold/centrifugation treatment of oocytes. Centrifugation moved the germinal vesicle to the centripetal side; eggs with such displaced GVBD fertilized and began to develop normally. Dorsal embryonic structures tended to develop on the GVBD side of the egg, but displacement of the GVBD was insufficient to rescue dorsal structures in axis-deficient embryos. The labeling of yolk platelets of oocytes with Trypan Blue revealed similar cytoplasmic patterns in control and treated eggs. Furthermore, 67% of treated eggs had Danilchik's swirl, indicative of the dorsal side, on the GVBD side. In conclusion, both the swirl and dorsal development tend to occur on the GVBD side of cold/centrifuged eggs; however, displaced GVBD cannot by itself determine dorsality.