A maternal dorsoventral prepattern revealed by an asymmetric distribution of ventralizing molecules before fertilization in Xenopus laevis.

ABSTRACT: The establishment of the embryonic dorsoventral axis in Xenopus occurs when the radial symmetry around the egg's animal-vegetal axis is broken to give rise to the typical symmetry of Bilaterians. We have previously shown that the Notch1 protein is ventrally enriched during early embryogenesis in Xenopus laevis and zebrafish and exerts ventralizing activity through β-Catenin destabilization and the positive regulation of ventral center genes in X. laevis. These findings led us to further investigate when these asymmetries arise. In this work, we show that the asymmetrical distribution of Notch1 protein and mRNA precedes cortical rotation and even fertilization in X. laevis. Moreover, we found that in unfertilized eggs transcripts encoded by the ventralizing gene

SUBMITTER: Castro Colabianchi AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10987785 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature