Eph regulates dorsoventral asymmetry of the notochord plate and convergent extension-mediated notochord formation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The notochord is a signaling center required for the patterning of the vertebrate embryonic midline, however, the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the formation of this essential embryonic tissue remain unclear. The urochordate Ciona intestinalis develops a simple notochord from 40 specific postmitotic mesodermal cells. The precursors intercalate mediolaterally and establish a single array of disk-shaped notochord cells along the midline. However, the role that notochord precursor polarization, particularly along the dorsoventral axis, plays in this morphogenetic process remains poorly understood.

Methodology/principal findings

Here we show that the notochord preferentially accumulates an apical cell polarity marker, aPKC, ventrally and a basement mem

SUBMITTER: Oda-Ishii I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2966392 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature