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

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The Clockwork Embryo: Mechanisms Regulating Developmental Rate.

Margarete Diaz-Cuadros^1,2, Olivier Pourquié^2,3,4

¹Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA;

Annual Review of Genetics

|November 27, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Developmental timing relies on molecular clocks and timers. Evolution modifies these patterns through allochrony and heterochrony, impacting organismal development and species divergence.

Keywords:

biological clocks developmental biology developmental time embryogenesis

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Area of Science:

Developmental Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Molecular Biology

Background:

Organismal development involves a precise, ordered sequence of events in time and space.
Molecular clocks and timers provide temporal specificity to developmental steps.
Coordination of timing mechanisms is crucial for maintaining developmental sequences.

Purpose of the Study:

To review mechanisms of temporal specificity in development.
To discuss allochrony and heterochrony as drivers of evolutionary novelty in developmental timing.
To highlight recent advances in studying these phenomena using in vitro mammalian development models.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on developmental timing mechanisms.
Analysis of allochrony and heterochrony in interspecies developmental time variation.
Examination of in vitro mammalian development models using stem cells.

Main Results:

Allochrony and heterochrony represent distinct modes of variation in developmental temporal patterning.
Differences in the rates of fundamental cellular processes (splicing, translation, metabolism) underlie variations in developmental time.
In vitro stem cell models offer new avenues for mechanistic studies of developmental timing.

Conclusions:

Understanding developmental timing is key to comprehending organismal development and evolution.
Further research using advanced models will elucidate genetic underpinnings of species-specific developmental times.