Studying Gastrulation in Drosophila
Lewis Wolpert once famously stated “”It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation, which is truly the most important time in your life.”
What is Gastrulation?
During early development in majority of animals, the morphology of the embryo is dramatically reorganized by cell migration and this is termed as Gastrulation. During gastrulation, many cells which are near the surface of the embryo move to a new, more interior location.The main purpose of gastrulation is to position the 3 embryonic germ layers, the endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm. ( See animations of gastrulation ) The actual name of gastrulation was first used by Ernst Haeckel in 1872 and the names of ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm were named by Sir Ray Lankester.
Gastrulation is observed in many phyla and The process of gastrulation in Drosophila begins with the invagination of the mesoderm on the ventral side of the blastoderm stage embryo. Various genetic screens were designed in Drosophila to look for genes involved in gastrulation and scientists could identify four regions in the genome. For three of these, the genes responsible for the mutant phenotypes have been found. Recently Mathew SJ, Kerridge S and Leptin M reported their finding from the fourth region in the plos one journal. Authors worked out the genetic characterization of the fourth region, which encompasses the cytogenetic interval 24C3-25B, and the mappedof genes involved in gastrulation in this region.
Caption : Defects in embryos lacking the 24C3-25A cytogenetic region.
Results show atleast 3 loci giving gastrulation defect phenotypes ,One maternal effect gene involved in ventral furrow formation maps at 24F but could not be identified. For a second maternal effect gene which is required for germ band extension,was identified as CG31660,coding for a G protein coupled receptor. Finally, one gene acts zygotically in ventral furrow formation was identified as Traf4.
Reference and image credit:
Mathew SJ, Kerridge S, Leptin M (2009) A Small Genomic Region Containing Several Loci Required for Gastrulation in Drosophila. PLoS ONE 4(10): e7437. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007437
What to know more about Gastrulation ?
Best book on Gastrulation:
Gastrulation: From Cells to Embryo edited by Claudio Stern is the most authoritative available guide to this vital period in embryonic development. It contains comprehensive, up-to-date information on:
Embryology, including extensive reviews of the gastrulation process in seventeen different groups of organisms, from sponges to humans;
Cellular Events, in-depth discussion of the many different cell movements and activities that break symmetry in the embryo, establish body axes, and induce mesoderm and neural tissues;
Molecular Biology, focusing on the most important genes and gene families involved in gastrulation, including signaling pathways, transcription factors, and extracellular components;
Evolution, exploring comparative aspects of gastrulation, molecular evolution, and embryo microfossils.
Related Posts:
If you liked what you just read, you may want to subscribe to my
RSS FEED
Thanks for visiting!
Leave your response!