scholarly journals ERK1/2 is an ancestral organising signal in spiral cleavage

Author(s):  
Océane Seudre ◽  
Allan Carrillo-Baltodano ◽  
Yan Liang ◽  
Jose Martín-Durán

Abstract Animal development is classified as conditional or autonomous based on whether cell fates are specified through inductive signals or maternal determinants, respectively. Yet how these two major developmental modes evolved remains unclear. During spiral cleavage—a stereotypic embryogenesis ancestral to 15 invertebrate groups, including molluscs and annelids—most lineages specify cell fates conditionally, while some define the primary axial fates autonomously. To identify the mechanisms driving this change, we studied Owenia fusiformis, an early-branching, conditional cleaving annelid. In Owenia, ERK1/2-mediated FGF receptor signalling specifies the endomesodermal progenitor. This cell acts as an embryonic organiser, inducing mesodermal and posterodorsal fates in neighbouring cells and repressing anteriorising signals. The organising role of ERK1/2 in Owenia is shared with molluscs, but not with autonomous cleaving annelids. Together, these findings indicate that conditional specification of an ERK1/2+ organiser is ancestral in spiral cleavage, repeatedly lost in annelid lineages as they evolved autonomous development.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e10264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee M. Wheldon ◽  
Bryan P. Haines ◽  
Rajit Rajappa ◽  
Ivor Mason ◽  
Peter W. Rigby ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 187 (7) ◽  
pp. 1101-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Francavilla ◽  
Paola Cattaneo ◽  
Vladimir Berezin ◽  
Elisabeth Bock ◽  
Diletta Ami ◽  
...  

Neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) associates with fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor-1 (FGFR1). However, the biological significance of this interaction remains largely elusive. In this study, we show that NCAM induces a specific, FGFR1-mediated cellular response that is remarkably different from that elicited by FGF-2. In contrast to FGF-induced degradation of endocytic FGFR1, NCAM promotes the stabilization of the receptor, which is recycled to the cell surface in a Rab11- and Src-dependent manner. In turn, FGFR1 recycling is required for NCAM-induced sustained activation of various effectors. Furthermore, NCAM, but not FGF-2, promotes cell migration, and this response depends on FGFR1 recycling and sustained Src activation. Our results implicate NCAM as a nonconventional ligand for FGFR1 that exerts a peculiar control on the intracellular trafficking of the receptor, resulting in a specific cellular response. Besides introducing a further level of complexity in the regulation of FGFR1 function, our findings highlight the link of FGFR recycling with sustained signaling and cell migration and the critical role of these events in dictating the cellular response evoked by receptor activation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Orús-Alcalde ◽  
Tsai-Ming Lu ◽  
Andreas Hejnol

Abstract Background: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a crucial role in immunity and development. They contain leucine-rich repeat domains, one transmembrane domain, and one Toll/IL-1 receptor domain. TLRs have been classified into V-type/scc and P-type/mcc TLRs, based on differences in the leucine-rich repeat domain region. Although TLRs are widespread in animals, detailed phylogenetic studies of this gene family are lacking. Here we aim to uncover TLR evolution by conducting a survey and a phylogenetic analysis in species across Bilateria. To discriminate between their role in development and immunity we furthermore analyzed stage-specific transcriptomes of the ecdysozoans Priapulus caudatus and Hypsibius exemplaris, and the spiralians Crassostrea gigas and Terebratalia transversa.Results: We detected a low number of TLRs in ecdysozoan species, and multiple independent radiations within the Spiralia. V-type/scc and P-type/mcc type-receptors are present in cnidarians, protostomes and deuterostomes, and therefore they emerged early in TLR evolution, followed by a loss in xenacoelomorphs. Our phylogenetic analysis shows that TLRs cluster into three major clades: clade α is present in cnidarians, ecdysozoans, and spiralians; clade β in deuterostomes, ecdysozoans, and spiralians; and clade γ is only found in spiralians. Our stage-specific transcriptome and in situ hybridization analyses show that TLRs are expressed during development in all species analyzed, which indicates a broad role of TLRs during animal development.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the bilaterian TLRs likely emerged by duplication from a single TLR encoding gene (proto-TLR) present in the last common cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor. This proto-TLR gene duplicated before the split of protostomes and deuterostomes; a second duplication occurred in the lineage to the Trochozoa. While all three clades further radiated in several spiralian lineages, specific TLRs clades have been presumably lost in others. Furthermore, the expression of the majority of these genes during protostome ontogeny suggests their involvement in immunity and development.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sílvia Chafino ◽  
David Martín ◽  
Xavier Franch-Marro

Abstract Animal development relies on a sequence of specific stages that allow the formation of adult structures with a determined size. In general, juvenile stages are dedicated mainly to growth, whereas last stages are devoted predominantly to the maturation of adult structures. In holometabolous insects, metamorphosis marks the end of the growth period as the animals stops feeding and initiate the final differentiation of the tissues. This transition is controlled by the steroid hormone ecdysone produced in the prothoracic gland. In Drosophila different signals have been shown to regulate the production of ecdysone, such as PTTH/Torso, TGFß and Egfr signaling. However, to which extent the role of these signals is conserved remains unknown. Here, we study the role of Egfr signaling in post-embryonic development of the basal holometabolous beetle Tribolium castaneum. We show that Tc-Egfr and Tc-pointed are required to induced a proper larval-pupal transition through the control of the expression of ecdysone biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, we identified an additional Tc-Egfr ligand in the Tribolium genome, the neuregulin-like protein Tc-Vein (Tc-Vn), which contributes to induce larval-pupal transition together with Tc-Spitz (Tc-Spi). Interestingly, we found that in addition to the redundant role in the control of pupa formation, each ligand possesses different functions in organ morphogenesis. Whereas Tc-Spi acts as the main ligand in urogomphi and gin traps, Tc-Vn is required in wings and elytra. Altogether, our findings show that in Tribolium, post-embryonic Tc-Egfr signaling activation depends on the presence of two ligands and that its role in metamorphic transition is conserved in holometabolous insects.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Turner ◽  
L. Alonso-Crisostomo ◽  
M. Girgin ◽  
P. Baillie-Johnson ◽  
C. R. Glodowski ◽  
...  

AbstractEstablishment of the three body axes is a critical step during animal development. In mammals, genetic studies have shown that a combination of precisely deployed signals from extraembryonic tissues position the anteroposterior axis (AP) within the embryo and lead to the emergence of the dorsoventral (DV) and left-right (LR) axes. We have used Gastruloids, embryonic organoids, as a model system to understand this process and find that they are able to develop AP, DV and LR axes as well as to undergo axial elongation in a manner that mirror embryos. The Gastruloids can be grown for 160 hours and form derivatives from ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. We focus on the AP axis and show that in the Gastruloids this axis is registered in the expression of T/Bra at one pole that corresponds to the tip of the elongation. We find that localisation of T/Bra expression depends on the combined activities of Wnt/β-Catenin and Nodal/Smad2,3 signalling, and that BMP signalling is dispensable for this process. Furthermore, AP axis specification occurs in the absence of both extraembryonic tissues and of localised sources of signalling. Our experiments show that Nodal, together with Wnt/β-Catenin signalling, is essential for the expression of T/Bra but that Wnt signalling has a separable activity in the elongation of the axis. The results lead us to suggest that, in the embryo, the role of the extraembryonic tissues might not be to induce the axes but to bias an intrinsic ability of the embryo to break its initial symmetry and organise its axes.One sentence summaryCulture of aggregates of defined number of Embryonic Stem cells leads to self-organised embryo-like structures which, in the absence of localised signalling from extra embryonic tissues and under the autonomous influence of Wnt and Nodal signalling, develop the three main axes of the body.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ai Takeshita ◽  
Kazuki Kawakami ◽  
Kenryo Furushima ◽  
Masayasu Miyajima ◽  
Kazushige Sakaguchi

Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (22) ◽  
pp. 4379-4389 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Michelson ◽  
S. Gisselbrecht ◽  
E. Buff ◽  
J.B. Skeath

Drosophila possesses two FGF receptors which are encoded by the heartless and breathless genes. HEARTLESS is essential for early migration and patterning of the embryonic mesoderm, while BREATHLESS is required for proper branching of the tracheal system. We have identified a new gene, heartbroken, that participates in the signalling pathways of both FGF receptors. Mutations in heartbroken are associated with defects in the migration and later specification of mesodermal and tracheal cells. Genetic interaction and epistasis experiments indicate that heartbroken acts downstream of the two FGF receptors but either upstream of or parallel to RAS1. Furthermore, heartbroken is involved in both the HEARTLESS- and BREATHLESS-dependent activation of MAPK. In contrast, EGF receptor-dependent embryonic functions and MAPK activation are not perturbed in heartbroken mutant embryos. A strong heartbroken allele also suppresses the effects of hyperactivated FGF but not EGF receptors. Thus, heartbroken may contribute to the specificity of developmental responses elicited by FGF receptor signalling.


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