BMP controls dorsoventral and neural patterning in indirect-developing hemichordates providing insight into a possible origin of chordates.

ABSTRACT: A defining feature of chordates is the unique presence of a dorsal hollow neural tube that forms by internalization of the ectodermal neural plate specified via inhibition of BMP signaling during gastrulation. While BMP controls dorsoventral (DV) patterning across diverse bilaterians, the BMP-active side is ventral in chordates and dorsal in many other bilaterians. How this phylum-specific DV inversion occurs and whether it is coupled to the emergence of the dorsal neural plate are unknown. Here we explore these questions by investigating an indirect-developing enteropneust from the hemichordate phylum, which together with echinoderms form a sister group of the chordates. We found that in the hemichordate larva, BMP signaling is required for DV patterning and is sufficient to repress neuro

SUBMITTER: Su YH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6600983 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature