Commitment of stem cells to nerve cells and migration of nerve cells precursors in preparatory bud development in...

Budding in Hydra starts as an evagination of the double-layered tissue in the parent animal's gastric region. Five hours later the density of nerve cells in the bud's tissue doubles, representing the first detectable difference from the cellular composition of the surrounding tissue. These new nerve cells derive from multipotent stem cells which are in S-phase one day before evagination starts. Some of the bud's new nerve cells derive from stem cells which have migrated into the future bud's tissue after their commitment, apparently attracted by the bud anlage. The bud anlage recruits precursors of nerve cells even during starvation, during which nerve cell production ceases in other parts of the body. Furthermore, the bud anlage controls the duration of the development from commitment to final differentiation of the resulting nerve cells. Experiments with an inhibitor purified from hydra tissue indicate a tight correlation between stages of preparatory bud development and stages of recruitment of nerve cells for the bud. Whether or not precursors of nerve cells are involved in the control of bud formation in normal hydra, as compared to epithelial hydra which still bud though consisting of epithelial cells only, will be discussed.