Abstract
The early events of vertebrate embryogenesis establish the three germ layers, endoderm, mesoderm and neuroectoderm, and interactions between these lineages, both before and during gastrulation, determine the body plan. Experiments in Xenopus laevis have identified a number of signaling pathways that can regulate mesoderm formation and patterning. These studies in Xenopus, as well as genetic experiments in the mouse and zebrafish, have established the importance of the Nodal, BMP, Wnt and FGF pathways in mesoderm formation and patterning (Harland and Gerhart 1997; Heasman 1997; De Robertis et al. 2000; Whitman 2001). However, the transcriptional programs that control the expression of these inducing factors and mediate specific cellular responses to pathway activation are not fully understood, and much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of mesodermal cell fate regulation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Agius E, Oelgeschlager M, Wessely O, Kemp C, De Robertis EM (2000) Endodermal Nodal-related signals and mesoderm induction in Xenopus. Development 127: 1173–1183
Boterenbrood EC, Nieuwkoop PD (1973) The formation of the mesoderm in urodelean amphibians. V. Its regional induction by the endoderm. Roux Arch Entw Mech Org 173: 319–332
Brannon M, Kimelman D (1996) Activation of Siamois by the Wnt pathway. Dev Biol 180: 344–347
Carlsson P, Mahlapuu M (2002) Forkhead transcription factors: key players in development and metabolism. Dev Biol 250: 1–23
Carnac G, Kodjabachian L, Gurdon JB, Lemaire P (1996) The homeobox gene Siamois is a target of the Wnt dorsalisation pathway and triggers organiser activity in the absence of mesoderm. Development 122: 3055–3065
Chen X, Rubock MJ, Whitman M (1996) A transcriptional partner for MAD proteins in TGF-beta signalling. Nature 383: 691–696
Chen X, Weisberg E, Fridmacher V, Watanabe M, Naco G, Whitman M (1997) Smad4 and FAST-1 in the assembly of activin-responsive factor. Nature 389: 85–89
Clements D, Friday RV, Woodland HR (1999) Mode of action of VegT in mesoderm and endoderm formation. Development 126: 4903–4911
Conlon FL, Lyons KM, Takaesu N, Barth KS, Kispert A, Herrmann B, Robertson EJ (1994) A primary requirement for nodal in the formation and maintenance of the primitive streak in the mouse. Development 120: 1919–1928
Crease DJ, Dyson S, Gurdon JB (1998) Cooperation between the activin and Wnt pathways in the spatial control of organizer gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 4398–4403
Dale L, Slack JMW (1987) Regional specification within the mesoderm of early embryos of Xenopus laevis. Development 100: 279–295
De Robertis EM, Larrain J, Oelgeschlager M, Wessely O (2000) The establishment of Spemann’s organizer and patterning of the vertebrate embryo. Nat Rev Genet 1: 171–181
Dirksen ML, Jamrich M (1995) Differential expression of fork head genes during early Xenopus and zebrafish development. Dev Genet 17: 107–116
Dottori M, Gross MK, Labosky P, Goulding M (2001) The winged-helix transcription factor Foxd3 suppresses interneuron differentiation and promotes neural crest cell fate. Development 128: 4127–4138
Elinson EP, Kao KR (1989) The location of dorsal information in Frog early development. Dev Growth Differ 31: 423–430
Engleka MJ, Craig EJ, Kessler DS (2001) VegT activation of Soxl7 at the midblastula transition alters the response to Nodal signals in the vegetal endoderm domain. Dev Biol 237: 159–172
Fan MJ, Sokol SY (1997) A role for siamois in Spemann organizer formation. Development 124: 2581–2589
Faure S, Lee MA, Keller T, ten Dijke P, Whitman M (2000) Endogenous patterns of TGF13 super-family signaling during early Xenopus development. Development 127: 2917–2931
Feldman B, Gates MA, Egan ES, Dougan ST, Rennebeck G, Sirotkin HI, Schier AF, Talbot WS (1998) Zebrafish organizer development and germ-layer formation require nodal-related signals. Nature 395: 181–185
Germain S, Howell M, Esslemont GM, Hill CS (2000) Homeodomain and winged-helix transcription factors recruit activated Smads to distinct promoter elements via a common Smad interaction motif. Genes Dev 14: 435–451
Gritsman K, Zhang J, Cheng S, Heckscher E, Talbot WS, Schier AF (1999) The EGF-CFC protein one-eyed pinhead is essential for nodal signaling. Cell 97: 121–132
Hanna LA, Foreman RK, Tarasenko IA, Kessler DS, Labosky PA (2002) Requirement for Foxd3 in maintaining pluripotent cells of the early mouse embryo. Genes Dev 16: 2650–2661
Harland R, Gerhart J (1997) Formation and function of Spemann’s organizer. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 13: 611–667
Heasman J (1997) Patterning the Xenopus blastula. Development 124: 4179–4191
Heasman J, Crawford A, Goldstone K, Garner-Hamrick P, Gumbiner B, McCrea P, Kintner C, Noro CY, Wylie C (1994) Overexpression of cadherins and underexpression of beta-catenin inhibit dorsal mesoderm induction in early Xenopus embryos. Cell 79: 791–803
Horb ME, Thomsen GH (1997) A vegetally localized T-box transcription factor in Xenopus eggs specifies mesoderm and endoderm and is essential for embryonic mesoderm formation. Development 124: 1689–1698
Hyde CE, Old RW (2000) Regulation of the early expression of the Xenopus nodal-related 1 gene, Xnrl. Development 127: 1221–1229
Jones CM, Kuehn MR, Hogan BL, Smith JC, Wright CV (1995) Nodal-related signals induce axial mesoderm and dorsalize mesoderm during gastrulation. Development 121: 3651–3662
Joseph EM, Melton DA (1997) Xnr4: a Xenopus nodal-related gene expressed in the Spemann organizer. Dev Biol 184: 367–372
Kaestner KH, Knöchel W, Martinez DE (2000) Unified nomenclature for the winged helix/forkhead transcription factors. Genes Dev 14: 142–146
Kaufmann E, Knöchel W (1996) Five years on the wings of fork head. Mech Dev 57: 3–20
Kessler DS (1997) Siamois is required for formation of Spemann’s organizer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 13017–13022
Kessler DS, Melton DA (1994) Vertebrate embryonic induction: mesodermal and neural patterning. Science 266: 596–604
Kimelman D, Christian JL, Moon RT (1992) Synergistic principles of development: overlapping patterning systems in Xenopus mesoderm induction. Development 116: 1–9
Kofron M, Demel T, Xanthos J, Lohr J, Sun B, Sive H, Osada S, Wright C, Wylie C, Heasman J (1999) Mesoderm induction in Xenopus is a zygotic event regulated by maternal VegT via TGFI3 growth factors. Development 126: 5759–5770
Kos R, Reedy MV, Johnson RL, Erickson CA (2001) The winged-helix transcription factor FoxD3 is important for establishing the neural crest lineage and repressing melanogenesis in avian embryos. Development 128: 1467–1479
Labosky PA, Kaestner KH (1998) The winged helix transcription factor Hfh2 is expressed in neural crest and spinal cord during mouse development. Mech Dev 76: 185–190
Lerchner W, Latinkic BV, Remade JE, Huylebroeck D, Smith JC (2000) Region-specific activation of the Xenopus brachyury promoter involves active repression in ectoderm and endoderm: a study using transgenic frog embryos. Development 127: 2729–2739
Lustig KD, Kroll KL, Sun EE, Kirschner MW (1996) Expression cloning of a Xenopus T-related gene ( Xombi) involved in mesodermal patterning and blastopore lip formation. Development 122: 4001–4012
Mariani FV, Harland RM (1998) XBF-2 is a transcriptional repressor that converts ectoderm into neural tissue. Development 125: 5019–5031
Moon RT, Kimelman D (1998) From cortical rotation to organizer gene expression: toward a molecular explanation of axis specification in Xenopus. Bioessays 20: 536–545
Nakamura O, Takasaki H (1970) Further studies on the differentiation capacity of the dorsal marginal zone in the morula of Triturus pyrrhogaster. Proc Jpn Acad 46: 700–705
Nieuwkoop PD (1969a) The formation of mesoderm in urodelean amphibians. I. Induction by the endoderm. Roux Arch Entw Mech Org 162: 341–373
Nieuwkoop PD (1969b) The formation of the mesoderm in urodelean Amphibians. II. The origin of the dorso-ventral polarity of the mesoderm. Roux Arch Entw Mech Org 163: 298–315
Odenthal J, Nusslein-Volhard C (1998) Forkhead domain genes in zebrafish. Dev Genes Evol 208: 245–258
Osada SI, Wright CV (1999) Xenopus nodal-related signaling is essential for mesendodermal patterning during early embryogenesis. Development 126: 3229–3240
Piccolo S, Agius E, Leyns L, Bhattacharyya S, Grunz H, Bouwmeester T, de Robertis EM (1999) The head inducer Cerberus is a multifunctional antagonist of Nodal, BMP and Wnt signals. Nature 397: 707–710
Pohl BS, Knöchel W (2001) Overexpression of the transcriptional repressor FoxD3 prevents neural crest formation in Xenopus embryos. Mech Dev 103: 93–106
Rebagliati MR, Toyama R, Haffter P, Dawid IB (1998) Cyclops encodes a nodal-related factor involved in midline signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 9932–9937
Sasai N, Mizuseki K, Sasai Y (2001) Requirement of FoxD3-class signaling for neural crest determination in Xenopus. Development 128: 2525–2536
Schier AF, Shen MM (2000) Nodal signalling in vertebrate development. Nature 403: 385–389
Smith WC, Harland RM (1991) Injected Xwnt-8 RNA acts early in Xenopus embryos to promote formation of a vegetal dorsalizing center. Cell 67: 753–765
Sokol S, Christian JL, Moon RT, Melton DA (1991) Injected wnt RNA induces a complete body axis in Xenopus embryos. Cell 67: 741–752
Stennard F, Carnac G, Gurdon JB (1996) The Xenopus T-box gene, Antipodean, encodes a vegetally localised maternal mRNA and can trigger mesoderm formation. Development 122: 4179–4188
Sutton J, Costa R, Klug M, Field L, Xu D, Largaespada DA, Fletcher CF, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG, Klemsz M, Hromas R (1996) Genesis, a winged helix transcriptional repressor with expression restricted to embryonic stem cells. J Biol Chem 271: 23126–23133
Takahashi S, Yokota C, Takano K, Tanegashima K, Onuma Y, Goto JI, Asashima M (2000) Two novel nodal-related genes initiate early inductive events in Xenopus Nieuwkoop center. Development 127: 5319–5329
Watabe T, Kim S, Candia A, Rothbacher U, Hashimoto C, Inoue K, Cho KW (1995) Molecular mechanisms of Spemann’s organizer formation: conserved growth factor synergy between Xenopus and mouse. Genes Dev 9: 3038–3050
Whitman M (2001) Nodal signaling in early vertebrate embryos. Themes and variations. Dev Cell 1: 605–617
Wilson PA, Hemmati-Brivanlou A (1997) Vertebrate neural induction: inducers, inhibitors, and a new synthesis. Neuron 18: 699–710
Yamagata M, Noda M (1998) The winged-helix transcription factor CWH-3 is expressed in developing neural crest cells. Neurosci Lett 249: 33–36
Yasuo H, Lemaire P (1999) A two-step model for the fate determination of presumptive endodermal blastomeres in Xenopus embryos. Curr Biol 9: 869–879
Zhang J, King ML (1996) Xenopus VegT RNA is localized to the vegetal cortex during oogenesis and encodes a novel T-box transcription factor involved in mesodermal patterning. Development 122: 4119–4129
Zhang J, Houston DW, King ML, Payne C, Wylie C, Heasman J (1998) The role of maternal VegT in establishing the primary germ layers in Xenopus embryos. Cell 94: 515–524
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yaklichkin, S., Steiner, A.B., Kessler, D.S. (2004). Transcriptional Repression in Spemann’s Organizer and the Formation of Dorsal Mesoderm. In: Grunz, H. (eds) The Vertebrate Organizer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-10416-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-10416-3_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05732-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-10416-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive