Cargando…

Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly

Embryonic stem cell cultures are thought to self-organize into embryoid bodies, able to undergo symmetry-breaking, germ layer specification and even morphogenesis. Yet, it is unclear how to reconcile this remarkable self-organization capacity with classical experiments demonstrating key roles for ex...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schauer, Alexandra, Pinheiro, Diana, Hauschild, Robert, Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7190352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32250246
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55190
_version_ 1783527671135731712
author Schauer, Alexandra
Pinheiro, Diana
Hauschild, Robert
Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp
author_facet Schauer, Alexandra
Pinheiro, Diana
Hauschild, Robert
Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp
author_sort Schauer, Alexandra
collection PubMed
description Embryonic stem cell cultures are thought to self-organize into embryoid bodies, able to undergo symmetry-breaking, germ layer specification and even morphogenesis. Yet, it is unclear how to reconcile this remarkable self-organization capacity with classical experiments demonstrating key roles for extrinsic biases by maternal factors and/or extraembryonic tissues in embryogenesis. Here, we show that zebrafish embryonic tissue explants, prepared prior to germ layer induction and lacking extraembryonic tissues, can specify all germ layers and form a seemingly complete mesendoderm anlage. Importantly, explant organization requires polarized inheritance of maternal factors from dorsal-marginal regions of the blastoderm. Moreover, induction of endoderm and head-mesoderm, which require peak Nodal-signaling levels, is highly variable in explants, reminiscent of embryos with reduced Nodal signals from the extraembryonic tissues. Together, these data suggest that zebrafish explants do not undergo bona fide self-organization, but rather display features of genetically encoded self-assembly, where intrinsic genetic programs control the emergence of order.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7190352
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-71903522020-05-01 Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly Schauer, Alexandra Pinheiro, Diana Hauschild, Robert Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp eLife Developmental Biology Embryonic stem cell cultures are thought to self-organize into embryoid bodies, able to undergo symmetry-breaking, germ layer specification and even morphogenesis. Yet, it is unclear how to reconcile this remarkable self-organization capacity with classical experiments demonstrating key roles for extrinsic biases by maternal factors and/or extraembryonic tissues in embryogenesis. Here, we show that zebrafish embryonic tissue explants, prepared prior to germ layer induction and lacking extraembryonic tissues, can specify all germ layers and form a seemingly complete mesendoderm anlage. Importantly, explant organization requires polarized inheritance of maternal factors from dorsal-marginal regions of the blastoderm. Moreover, induction of endoderm and head-mesoderm, which require peak Nodal-signaling levels, is highly variable in explants, reminiscent of embryos with reduced Nodal signals from the extraembryonic tissues. Together, these data suggest that zebrafish explants do not undergo bona fide self-organization, but rather display features of genetically encoded self-assembly, where intrinsic genetic programs control the emergence of order. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7190352/ /pubmed/32250246 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55190 Text en © 2020, Schauer et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Developmental Biology
Schauer, Alexandra
Pinheiro, Diana
Hauschild, Robert
Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp
Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title_full Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title_fullStr Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title_full_unstemmed Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title_short Zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
title_sort zebrafish embryonic explants undergo genetically encoded self-assembly
topic Developmental Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7190352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32250246
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55190
work_keys_str_mv AT schaueralexandra zebrafishembryonicexplantsundergogeneticallyencodedselfassembly
AT pinheirodiana zebrafishembryonicexplantsundergogeneticallyencodedselfassembly
AT hauschildrobert zebrafishembryonicexplantsundergogeneticallyencodedselfassembly
AT heisenbergcarlphilipp zebrafishembryonicexplantsundergogeneticallyencodedselfassembly