Actomyosin stiffens the vertebrate embryo during crucial stages of elongation and neural tube closure.

ABSTRACT: Physical forces drive the movement of tissues within the early embryo. Classical and modern approaches have been used to infer and, in rare cases, measure mechanical properties and the location and magnitude of forces within embryos. Elongation of the dorsal axis is a crucial event in early vertebrate development, yet the mechanics of dorsal tissues in driving embryonic elongation that later support neural tube closure and formation of the central nervous system is not known. Among vertebrates, amphibian embryos allow complex physical manipulation of embryonic tissues that are required to measure the mechanical properties of tissues. In this paper, we measure the stiffness of dorsal isolate explants of frog (Xenopus laevis) from gastrulation to neurulation and find dorsal tissues stiffen f

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2685957 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature