PUBLICATION
Cadherin-mediated adhesion regulates posterior body formation
- Authors
- Harrington, M.J., Hong, E., Fasanmi, O., and Brewster, R.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-071210-3
- Date
- 2007
- Source
- BMC Developmental Biology 7(1): 130 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Brewster, Rachel, Harrington, Michael, Hong, Elim
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Apoptosis
- Body Patterning/genetics*
- Cadherins/genetics*
- Cell Adhesion
- Cell Polarity
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/embryology*
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- In Situ Hybridization
- Oligonucleotides, Antisense
- Protein Biosynthesis
- Tail/embryology
- Zebrafish/embryology*
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
- PubMed
- 18045497 Full text @ BMC Dev. Biol.
Citation
Harrington, M.J., Hong, E., Fasanmi, O., and Brewster, R. (2007) Cadherin-mediated adhesion regulates posterior body formation. BMC Developmental Biology. 7(1):130.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The anterior-posterior axis of the vertebrate embryo undergoes a dramatic elongation during early development. Convergence and extension of the mesoderm, occurring during gastrulation, initiates the narrowing and lengthening of the embryo. However the lengthening of the axis continues during post-gastrula stages in the tailbud region, and is thought to involve convergent extension movements as well as other cell behaviors specific to posterior regions. RESULTS: We demonstrate here, using a semi-dominant N-cadherin allele, that members of the classical cadherin subfamily of cell-cell adhesion molecules are required for tailbud elongation in the zebrafish. In vivo imaging of cell behaviors suggests that the extension of posterior axial mesodermal cells is impaired in embryos that carry the semi-dominant N-cadherin allele. This defect most likely results from a general loss of cell-cell adhesion in the tailbud region. Consistent with these observations, N-cadherin is expressed throughout the tailbud during post-gastrulation stages. In addition, we show that N-cadherin interacts synergistically with Strabismus, a member of the non-canonical Wnt signaling/planar cell polarity pathway, to mediate tail morphogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: We provide the first evidence here that N-cadherin and other members of the classical cadherin subfamily function in parallel with the planar cell polarity pathway to shape the posterior axis during post-gastrulation stages. These findings further highlight the central role that adhesion molecules play in the cellular rearrangements that drive morphogenesis in vertebrates and identify classical cadherins as major contributors to tail development.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping