Histospecific acetylcholinesterase development in the presumptive muscle cells isolated from 16-cell-stage ascidian embryos with respect to the number of DNA replications

Development ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Izumi Mita-Miyazawa ◽  
Susumu Ikegami ◽  
Noriyuki Satoh

The presumptive muscle cells (B5.1 blastomeres) were isolated from 16-cell-stage embryos of the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. The isolated cells were allowed to divide either twice or three times thereafter. Then further divisions of the cells were continuously inhibited by a simultaneous treatment with aphidicolin (a specific inhibitor of DNA synthesis) and cytochalasin B (an inhibitor of cytokinesis). When development of muscle-specific acetyl-cholinesterase in these division-arrested progeny cells of B5.1 blastomeres was examined histochemically, the B5.1 blastomeres which had been allowed two further divisions did not produce any detectable acetyl-cholinesterase activity. Whereas those which had been allowed three further divisions showed the tissue-specific enzyme activity. These results provide further evidence for the presence of a quantal DNA replication cycle for the tissue-specific enzyme development, which is qualitatively different from the other DNA replication cycles.

Development ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Noriyuki Satoh ◽  
Susumu Ikegami

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a tissue-specific enzyme of the muscle cells of ascidian embryos and its synthesis begins at the neurula stage. Embryos which had been permanently cleavage-arrested with cytochalasin B could develop AChE activity. The time of first AChE occurrence in embryos which had been arrested in the 32-cell stage with cytochalasin was about the same as in normal embryos. The nucleus in the cell of cytochalasin-arrested embryos divided in good synchrony with that of normal embryos. Embryos which had been continuously arrested with colchicine could also produce AChE activity at nearly the same time as did normal embryos. In the cell of colchicine-arrested embryos normal nuclear divisions did not occur, but the cell showed repeated cycles of nuclear envelope breakdown and nuclear envelope reformation in almost parallel with cell cycles of normal embryos. The cell of colchicine-arrested embryos incorporated [3H]thymidine. Aphidicolin, a specific inhibitor of DNA synthesis, prevented cleavages of ascidian eggs. Embryos which had been permanently arrested with aphidicolin in the cleavage stages up to the 64-cell stage did not develop AChE activity, while embryos which had been treated with it from the 76-cell stage onwards were found to be able to differentiate AChE activity. Based on these findings it was proposed that DNA replication is prerequisite for development of the histospecific protein and that the cycle of DNA replication is closely associated with the clock mechanism which is determining the time of initiation of the enzyme development.


Development ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Noriyuki Satoh ◽  
Susumu Ikegami

In order to determine whether or not a crucial number of DNA replications are prerequisite for cellular differentiation, we have studied development of a tissue-specific enzyme, muscle acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in the presumptive muscle cells of cleavage-arrested ascidian embryos. Embryos were cleavage-arrested with cytochalasin B (an inhibitor of cytokinesis) and aphidicolin (an inhibitor of DNA synthesis). The 64-ceIl-stage embryos which had been permanently cleavage-arrested with cytochalasin B developed AChE in all the eight presumptive muscle cells, but the same stage embryos which had been prevented from undergoing further divisions by simultaneous treatment with aphidicolin and cytochalasin did not produce AChE at all. Cytochalasin-arrested 76-cell-stage embryos were able to differentiate AChE in the ten presumptive muscle cells, while aphidicolin-cytochalasin-arrested 76-cell stages in as many as four cells. The early gastrulae which had been arrested with cytochalasin B produced AChE in all the sixteen presumptive muscle cells, while the same stage embryos arrested with aphidicolin and cylochalasin in as many as twelve cells. Cytochalasin-arrested late gastrulae developed AChE in twenty blastomeres, while aphidicolin-cytochalasinarrested late gastrulae in eighteen cells. The presumptive muscle cells at these four stages consist of those of three different (seventh, eighth, and ninth) generations, and the relative positions of the blastomeres in the cleavagearrested embryos remained fixed. Judging from the relative positions of the blaslomeres, the AChE-producing cells in aphidicolin-cytochalasin-arrested embryos were always at eighth or ninth generation, while those with no AChE activity were certainly at seventh generation. Based on these findings it was supposed that aphidicolin-sensitive cell-cyclic events, presumably DNA replication, are closely associated with AChE development and that the eighth cleavage cycle may be ‘quantal’ for the histospecific enzyme development.


Development ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Noriyuki Satoh

During ascidian embryogenesis a tissue-specific enzyme, muscle acetylcholinesterase (AChE) may first be detected histochemically in the presumptive muscle cells of the neurula. [n order to investigate the ‘clock’ or counting mechanism that is determining the time when AChE first appears, Whittaker's experiment (1973) has been repeated using eggs of theascidian, Halocynthia roretzi. Embryos that had been permanently cleavage-arrested with cytochalasin B were able to differentiate AChE in their muscle lineage blastomeres. The time of first AChE occurrence in embryos that had been cleavage-arrested in the 32-cell stage with cytochalasin B was about the same as in normal embryos. This result indicates that the clock is not apparently regulated by the events of cytokinesis. The early gastrulae which had been arrested with colchicine or with colcemid could develop AChE activity, although no histochemically detectable AChE activity was observed in the cleavage-stage embryos that had been arrested with either drug. Therefore the clock does not seem to be controlled by the mitotic cycle of the nucleus. It is suggested that the cycle of DNA replication may be related to the regulation of the clock that is determining the time of development of histospecific protein.


1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (5) ◽  
pp. C1371-C1378 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Walsh ◽  
J. D. Carmichael ◽  
G. J. Kargacin

Calponin isolated from chicken gizzard smooth muscle binds in vitro to actin in a Ca(2+)-independent manner and thereby inhibits the actin-activated Mg(2+)-adenosinetriphosphatase of smooth muscle myosin. This inhibition is relieved when calponin is phosphorylated by protein kinase C or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, suggesting that calponin is involved in thin filament-associated regulation of smooth muscle contraction. To further examine this possibility, calponin was isolated from toad stomach smooth muscle, characterized biochemically, and localized in intact isolated cells. Toad stomach calponin had the same basic biochemical properties as calponin from other sources. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that calponin in intact smooth muscle cells was localized to long filamentous structures that were colabeled by antibodies to actin or tropomyosin. Preservation of the basic biochemical properties of calponin from species to species suggests that these properties are relevant for its in vivo function. Its colocalization with actin and tropomyosin indicates that calponin is associated with the thin filament in intact smooth muscle cells.


Development ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-354
Author(s):  
J. R. Whittaker

This research shows that myoplasmic crescent material of the ascidian egg has both functional autonomy and functional specificity in establishing the differentiation pathway of muscle lineage cells. The cytoplasmic segregation pattern in eggs of Styela plicata was altered by compression of the embryos during third cleavage. This caused a meridional division instead of the normal equatorial third cleavage; first and second cleavages are meridional. Since eggs of S. plicata have a pronounced yellow myoplasmic crescent, one observes directly that third cleavage under compression resulted in a flat 8-cell stage with four cells containing yellow myoplasm instead of the two myoplasm-containing cells that would be formed by normal equatorial division at third cleavage. If such altered 8-cell-stage embryos were released from compression and kept from undergoing further divisions by continuous treatment with cytochalasin B, some embryos eventually developed histospecific acetylcholinesterase in three and four cells instead of in just the two muscle lineage cells found in cleavage-arrested normal 8-cell stages. The wider myoplasmic distribution effected by altering the division plane at third cleavage apparently caused a change in developmental fate of the extra cells receiving myoplasm. This meridional third cleavage also resulted in a changed nuclear lineage pattern. Two nuclei that would ordinarily be in ectodermal lineage cells after third cleavage were now associated with yellow myoplasm. Acetylcholinesterase development in these cells demonstrates that nuclear lineages are not responsible for muscle acetylcholinesterase development in the ascidian embryo.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Christians ◽  
E. Campion ◽  
E.M. Thompson ◽  
J.P. Renard

Activation of the mouse embryonic genome at the 2-cell stage is characterized by the synthesis of several alpha-amanitin-sensitive polypeptides, some of which belong to the multigenic hsp 70 family. In the present work we show that a member of this family, the HSP 70.1 gene, is highly transcribed at the onset of zygotic genome activation. Transcription of this gene began as early as the 1-cell stage. Expression of the gene continued through the early 2-cell stage but was repressed before the completion of the second round of DNA replication. During this period we observed that the level of transcription was modulated by in vitro culture conditions. The coincidence of repression of HSP70.1 transcription with the second round of DNA replication was not found for other transcription-dependent polypeptides synthesized at the 2-cell stage.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (7) ◽  
pp. 1729-1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaoru S. Imai ◽  
Nori Satoh ◽  
Yutaka Satou

In early Ciona savignyi embryos, nuclear localization of β-catenin is the first step of endodermal cell specification, and triggers the activation of various target genes. A cDNA for Cs-FGF4/6/9, a gene activated downstream of β-catenin signaling, was isolated and shown to encode an FGF protein with features of both FGF4/6 and FGF9/20. The early embryonic expression of Cs-FGF4/6/9 was transient and the transcript was seen in endodermal cells at the 16- and 32-cell stages, in notochord and muscle cells at the 64-cell stage, and in nerve cord and muscle cells at the 110-cell stage; the gene was then expressed again in cells of the nervous system after neurulation. When the gene function was suppressed with a specific antisense morpholino oligo, the differentiation of mesenchyme cells was completely blocked, and the fate of presumptive mesenchyme cells appeared to change into that of muscle cells. The inhibition of mesenchyme differentiation was abrogated by coinjection of the morpholino oligo and synthetic Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA. Downregulation of β-catenin nuclear localization resulted in the absence of mesenchyme cell differentiation due to failure of the formation of signal-producing endodermal cells. Injection of synthetic Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA in β-catenin-downregulated embryos evoked mesenchyme cell differentiation. These results strongly suggest that Cs-FGF4/6/9 produced by endodermal cells acts an inductive signal for the differentiation of mesenchyme cells. On the other hand, the role of Cs-FGF4/6/9 in the induction of notochord cells is partial; the initial process of the induction was inhibited by Cs-FGF4/6/9 morpholino oligo, but notochord-specific genes were expressed later to form a partial notochord.


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