An evolutionary transition of Vasa regulation in echinoderms.
Celina E. Juliano,Gary M. Wessel +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how vasa is regulated in key members of the phylum with respect to the evolution of the micromere and small microromere lineages and find that although striking similarities exist between the vasa mRNA expression patterns of several sea urchins and sea stars, the time frame of enriched protein expression differs significantly.
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Abstract: Vasa, a DEAD box helicase, is a germline marker that may also function in multipotent cells. In the embryo of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Vasa protein is posttranscriptionally enriched in the small micromere lineage, which results from two asymmetric cleavage divisions early in development. The cells of this lineage are subsequently set aside during embryogenesis for use in constructing the adult rudiment. Although this mode of indirect development is prevalent among echinoderms, early asymmetric cleavage divisions are a derived feature in this phylum. The goal of this study is to explore how vasa is regulated in key members of the phylum with respect to the evolution of the micromere and small micromere lineages. We find that although striking similarities exist between the vasa mRNA expression patterns of several sea urchins and sea stars, the time frame of enriched protein expression differs significantly. These results suggest that a conserved mechanism of vasa regulation was shifted earlier in sea urchin embryogenesis with the derivation of micromeres. These data also shed light on the phenotype of a sea urchin embryo upon removal of the Vasa-positive micromeres, which appears to revert to a basal mechanism used by extant sea stars and pencil urchins to regulate Vasa protein accumulation. Furthermore, in all echinoderms tested here, Vasa protein and/or message is enriched in the larval coelomic pouches, the site of adult rudiment formation, thus suggesting a conserved role for vasa in undifferentiated multipotent cells set aside during embryogenesis for use in juvenile development.
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Citations
A conserved germline multipotency program
TL;DR: The germline of multicellular animals is segregated from somatic tissues, which implies the existence of an underlying germline multipotency program in these cell types that has a previously underappreciated and conserved function in maintaining multipotencies.
Small micromeres contribute to the germline in the sea urchin.
Mamiko Yajima,Gary M. Wessel +1 more
TL;DR: Quantitative PCR results indicate that small micromere-deleted animals produce background levels of germ cell products, but not specifically eggs or sperm, and suggest that germline specification depends on the small micromeres, either directly as lineage products, or indirectly by signaling mechanisms emanating from the smallmicromeres or their descendants.
Asymmetric localization of germline markers Vasa and Nanos during early development in the amphioxus Branchiostoma floridae.
TL;DR: It is shown that in the cephalochordate amphioxus Branchiostoma floridae, the germ cell-specific molecular markers Vasa and Nanos become localized to the vegetal pole cytoplasm during oogenesis and are inherited asymmetrically by a single blastomere during cleavage.
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Essential elements for translation: the germline factor Vasa functions broadly in somatic cells
Mamiko Yajima,Gary M. Wessel +1 more
TL;DR: In sea urchin embryos, the germ line marker Vasa, an RNA-binding protein, acts in the soma to control mRNA translation, and is important for developmental reprogramming and wound healing.
Programmed reduction of ABC transporter activity in sea urchin germline progenitors
Joseph P. Campanale,Amro Hamdoun +1 more
TL;DR: It is found that the inhibition of ABCB and ABCC-types of efflux transporters disrupts the ordered distribution of small micromeres to the left and right coelomic pouches, which point to tradeoffs between signaling and the protective functions of the transporter.
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References
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John R. Pehrson,Leonard H. Cohen +1 more
TL;DR: It is shown that in sea urchin embryos, the daughter cells of the small micromeres become part of the coelomic sacs, in contrast to the long-held view that these sacs are purely of macromere origin.
Nanos Maintains Germline Stem Cell Self-Renewal by Preventing Differentiation
Zhong Wang,Haifan Lin +1 more
TL;DR: It is shown that removing the translational repressor Nanos from either GSCs or their precursors, the primordial germ cells (PGCs), causes both cell types to differentiate into germline cysts.
Universal occurrence of the vasa-related genes among metazoans and their germline expression in Hydra.
TL;DR: The results suggest that the vas-related genes occur universally among metazoans and that their expression in germline cells was established at least before cnidarian evolution.
Expression patterns of four different regulatory genes that function during sea urchin development.
TL;DR: Re-examination of the expression pattern of SpFoxb reveals domains of expression not previously reported for this gene, and a more detailed, temporal and spatial description of the expressions of SpKrl than heretofore available is provided.
Multiple Potential Germ-Line Helicases Are Components of the Germ-Line-Specific P Granules of Caenorhabditis Elegans
M. E. Gruidl,Pliny A. Smith,K. A. Kuznicki,J. S. Mccrone,Jay Kirchner,Deborah L. Roussell,Susan Strome,Karen Bennett +7 more
TL;DR: Two components of the germ-line-specific P granules of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have been identified using polyclonal antibodies specific for each as mentioned in this paper.