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Genetic Analysis of Somite Formation in Laboratory Fish Models

  • Chapter
Somitogenesis

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 638))

Abstract

The repeated appearance of somites is one of the most fascinating aspects of vertebrate embryogenesis. Recent studies identified complex regulatory circuits that provide the molecular basis for the “clock and wave front” model, postulated almost 30 years ago by Cooke and Zeeman. The highly coordinated process of somite formation involves several networks of molecular cascades including the Delta/Notch, Wnt, FGF and retinoid signalling pathways. Studies in mouse, Xenopus and especially chicken over the last decade have helped to understand the role and interactions of these pathways in somitogenesis. More recently, this has been supplemented by experiments in zebrafish. This animal model offers the possibility of performing large scale mutagenesis screens to identify novel factors and pathways involved in somitogenesis. Molecular cloning of zebrafish somite mutants mainly resulted in genes that belong to the Delta/Notch pathway and therefore underlined the importance of this pathway during somitogenesis. The fact that other pathways have not yet been identified by genetic screening in this species was assumed to be caused by functional redundancy of duplicated genes in zebrafish. In 2000, a large-scale mutagenesis screen has been initiated in Kyoto, Japan using the related teleost medaka (Oryzias latipes). In this screen, mutants with unique phenotypes have been identified, which have not been described in zebrafish or mouse. In this chapter, we will review the progress that has been made in understanding the molecular control of somite formation in zebrafish and will discuss recent efforts to screen for novel phenotypes using medaka somitogenesis mutants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    Christoph Winkler

  2. Department of Physiological Chemistry I Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Germany

    Christoph Winkler & Harun Elmasri

  3. Childrens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusett, USA

    Christoph Winkler & Harun Elmasri

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  1. Christoph Winkler
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  2. Harun Elmasri
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland

    Miguel Maroto PhD

  2. University of Exeter, Devon, England

    Neil V. Whittock PhD

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Winkler, C., Elmasri, H. (2008). Genetic Analysis of Somite Formation in Laboratory Fish Models. In: Maroto, M., Whittock, N.V. (eds) Somitogenesis. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 638. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09606-3_3

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