Mechanisms of dorsal-ventral patterning in noggin-induced neural tissue

We have investigated mechanisms of dorsal-ventral patterning of neural tissue, using Xenopus ectoderm neuralized by noggin protein. This tissue appears to be patterned dorsoventrally; cp1-1, a gene expressed in the dorsal brain, and etr-1, a gene largely excluded from the dorsal brain, are expressed in separate territories in noggin-treated explants (Knecht, A. K., Good, P. J., Dawid, I. B. and Harland, R. M. (1995) Development 121, 1927–1936). Here we show further evidence that this pattern represents a partial dorsal-ventral organization. Additionally, we test two mechanisms that could account for this pattern: a dose-dependent response to a gradient of noggin protein within the explant, and regulative cell-cell interactions. We show that noggin exhibits concentration-dependent effects, inducing cp1-1 at low doses but repressing it at high doses. Since noggin acts by antagonizing Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling, this result suggests that BMPs also may act in a dose-dependent manner in vivo. However, in the absence of a noggin gradient, regulative cell-cell interactions can also pattern the tissue. Such regulation is facilitated by increased motility of noggin-treated cells. Finally, the response of cells to both of these patterning mechanisms is ultimately controlled by a third process, the changing competence of the responding tissue.