Direct and indirect control of oral ectoderm regulatory gene expression by Nodal signaling in the sea urchin embryo.

ABSTRACT: The Nodal signaling pathway is known from earlier work to be an essential mediator of oral ectoderm specification in the sea urchin embryo, and indirectly, of aboral ectoderm specification as well. Following expression of the Nodal ligand in the future oral ectoderm during cleavage, a sequence of regulatory gene activations occur within this territory which depend directly or indirectly on nodal gene expression. Here we describe additional regulatory genes that contribute to the oral ectoderm regulatory state during specification in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and show how their spatial expression changes dynamically during development. By means of system wide perturbation analyses we have significantly improved current knowledge of the epistatic relations among the regulatory genes of

SUBMITTER: Li E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3423475 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature