Back to Search
Start Over
Modelling asymmetric somitogenesis: Deciphering the mechanisms behind species differences
- Source :
- Developmental Biology, 427(1), 21. Academic Press Inc.
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Somitogenesis is one of the major hallmarks of bilateral symmetry in vertebrates. This symmetry is lost when retinoic acid (RA) signalling is inhibited, allowing the left-right determination pathway to influence somitogenesis. In all three studied vertebrate model species, zebrafish, chicken and mouse, the frequency of somite formation becomes asymmetric, with slower gene expression oscillations driving somitogenesis on the right side. Still, intriguingly, the resulting left-right asymmetric phenotypes differ significantly between these model species. While somitogenesis is generally considered as functionally equivalent among different vertebrates, substantial differences exist in the subset of oscillating genes between different vertebrate species. Variation also appears to exist in the way oscillations cease and somite boundaries become patterned. In addition, in absence of RA, the FGF8 gradient thought to constitute the determination wavefront becomes asymmetric in zebrafish and mouse, extending more anteriorly to the right, while remaining symmetric in chicken. Here we use a computational modelling approach to decipher the causes underlying species differences in asymmetric somitogenesis. Specifically, we investigate to what extent differences can be explained from observed differences in FGF asymmetry and whether differences in somite determination dynamics may also be involved. We demonstrate that a simple clock-and-wavefront model incorporating the observed left-right differences in somitogenesis frequency readily reproduces asymmetric somitogenesis in chicken. However, incorporating asymmetry in FGF signalling was insufficient to robustly reproduce mouse or zebrafish asymmetry phenotypes. In order to explain these phenoptypes we needed to extend the basic model, incorporating species-specific details of the somitogenesis determination mechanism. Our results thus demonstrate that a combination of differences in FGF dynamics and somite determination cause species differences in asymmetric somitogenesis. In addition,they highlight the power of using computational models as well as studying left-right asymmetry to obtain more insight in somitogenesis.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Determination front
animal cell
Mesoderm
Mice
somite
Somitogenesis
vertebrate
zebra fish
Zebrafish
Genetics
biology
article
Vertebrate
Clock and wavefront model
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
medicine.anatomical_structure
Somites
priority journal
Vertebrates
Presomitic mesoderm
Segmentation clock
Algorithms
signal transduction
Fibroblast Growth Factor 8
phenotype
chicken
Embryonic Development
embryo
Tretinoin
Models, Biological
animal tissue
03 medical and health sciences
developmental biology
FGF8
Species Specificity
biology.animal
fibroblast growth factor
medicine
Paraxial mesoderm
Animals
controlled study
Molecular Biology
reproducibility
Left-right signalling
mouse
Body Patterning
nonhuman
species difference
embryo development
Cell Biology
biology.organism_classification
molecular dynamics
Somite
030104 developmental biology
Computational modelling
Evolutionary biology
Developmental biology
Chickens
embryo pattern formation
mathematical model
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00121606
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Developmental Biology, 427(1), 21. Academic Press Inc.
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5a478c887e8decf48d8df507ec26562e