The asymmetric cell division machinery in the spiral-cleaving egg and embryo of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Over one third of all animal phyla utilize a mode of early embryogenesis called 'spiral cleavage' to divide the fertilized egg into embryonic cells with different cell fates. This mode is characterized by a series of invariant, stereotypic, asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) that generates cells of different size and defined position within the early embryo. Astonishingly, very little is known about the underlying molecular machinery to orchestrate these ACDs in spiral-cleaving embryos. Here we identify, for the first time, cohorts of factors that may contribute to early embryonic ACDs in a spiralian embryo.

Results

To do so we analyzed stage-specific transcriptome data in eggs and early embryos of the spiralian annelid Platynereis dumerilii for the expression of ov

SUBMITTER: Nakama AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5725810 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature