Project description:In this study we analyzed the spatial and temporal localization of maternal transcripts during oogenesis in Acipenser ruthenus. The occurrence of transcript asymmetry in A. ruthenus has been described at a global level only in matured eggs. However not much is known about the asymmetry during oogenesis. In this study we assessed the temporal establishment of the transcript localization at a global level for A. ruthenus. We were able to determine that there are many transcripts that show temporal variability in the establishment of their localization. We observed an early, predefined and also late pathways for both the vegetally and animally localized transcripts. Additionally, we showed that some maternal transcripts are dynamic during oogenesis with degradation and de novo production being observed. Our study showed that in additional to spatial orientation to the transcripts, there is a strong temporal factor. The discovery of these new temporal profiles should help to better understand the driving forces during embryogenesis.
Project description:Bone is an evolutionary novelty of vertebrates, likely to have first emerged as part of ancestral dermal armor that consisted of osteogenic and odontogenic components. Whether these early vertebrate structures arose from mesoderm or neural crest cells has been a matter of considerable debate. To examine the developmental origin of the bony part of the dermal armor, we have performed in vivo lineage tracing in the sterlet sturgeon, a representative of non-teleost ray-finned fish that has retained an extensive postcranial dermal skeleton. The results definitively show that sterlet trunk neural crest cells give rise to osteoblasts of the scutes. Transcriptional profiling further reveals neural crest gene signature in sterlet scutes as well as bichir scales. Finally, histological and microCT analysis of ray-finned fish dermal armor show that their scales and scutes are formed by bone, dentin and hypermineralized covering tissues, in various combinations, that resemble those of the first armored vertebrates. Taken together, our results support a primitive skeletogenic role for the neural crest along the entire body axis, that was later progressively restricted to the cranial region during vertebrate evolution. Thus, the neural crest was a crucial evolutionary innovation driving the origin and diversification of dermal armor along the entire body axis.