Work

Specification to Biomineralization: Following a Single Cell Type as It Constructs a Skeleton

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: The sea urchin larva is shaped by a calcite endoskeleton. That skeleton is built by 64 primary mesenchyme cells (PMCs) in Lytechinus variegatus. The PMCs originate as micromeres due to an unequal fourth cleavage in the embryo. Micromeres are specified in a well-described molecular sequence and enter the blastocoel at a precise time using a classic epithelial-mesenchymal transition. To make the skeleton, the PMCs receive signaling inputs from the overlying ectoderm, which provides positional information as well as control of the growth of initial skeletal tri-radiates. The patterning of the skeleton is the result both of autonomous inputs from PMCs, including production of proteins that are included in the skeletal matrix, and of non-autonomous dynamic information from the ectoderm. Here, we summarize the wealth of information known about how a PMC contributes to the skeletal structure. The larval skeleton is a model for understanding how information encoded in DNA is translated into a three-dimensional crystalline structure.

Source: Integrative and Comparative Biology

DOI: 10.1093/icb/icu087

Authors: D. C. Lyons, M. L. Martik, L. R. Saunders, D. R. McClay

Institution: Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G2027342712, G4136426765, Egg to Embryo: Gene Regulatory Circuitry in Development, Training Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Embryonic Cell Recognition: Specificity Determinants