Site of the previous meiotic division defines cleavage orientation in the mouse embryo
Abstract
The conservation of early cleavage patterns in organisms as diverse as echinoderms and mammals suggests that even in highly regulative embryos such as the mouse, division patterns might be important for development. Indeed, the first cleavage divides the fertilized mouse egg into two cells: one cell that contributes predominantly to the embryonic part of the blastocyst, and one that contributes to the abembryonic part. Here we show, by removing, transplanting or duplicating the animal or vegetal poles of the mouse egg, that a spatial cue at the animal pole orients the plane of this initial division. Embryos with duplicated animal, but not vegetal, poles show abnormalities in chromosome segregation that compromise their development. Our results show that localized factors in the mammalian egg orient the spindle and so define the initial cleavage plane. In increased dosage, however, these factors are detrimental to the correct execution of division.
Additional Information
© 2002 Nature Publishing Group. RECEIVED 9 APRIL 2002, REVISED 10 JUNE 2002, ACCEPTED 31 JULY 2002, PUBLISHED 23 SEPTEMBER 2002. We thank L. Clayton for some of the earlier immunostaining of mouse embryos, and S. Frankenberg, M. Savoian, J. Pines, A. Brand and J. Ahringer for discussions. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (M.Z.-G.), Cancer Research UK (D.M.G.) and the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (M.Z.-G. and D.M.G.). The authors declare no competing financial interests. An Erratum to this article was published on 01 November 2002.Errata
In Plusa et al. (Nature Cell Biology 4, 811–815, (2002)), the incorrect abstract was published. This has now been corrected online and is reproduced below: The conservation of early cleavage patterns in organisms as diverse as echinoderms and mammals suggests that even in highly regulative embryos such as the mouse, division patterns might be important for development1–4. Indeed, the first cleavage divides the fertilized mouse egg into two cells: one cell that contributes predominantly to the embryonic part of the blastocyst, and one that contributes to the abembryonic part5,6. Here we show, by removing, transplanting or duplicating the animal or vegetal poles of the mouse egg, that a spatial cue at the animal pole orients the plane of this initial division. Embryos with duplicated animal, but not vegetal, poles show abnormalities in chromosome segregation that compromise their development. Our results show that localized factors in the mammalian egg orient the spindle and so define the initial cleavage plane. In increased dosage, however, these factors are detrimental to the correct execution of division.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 94838
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190422-100408799
- Wellcome Trust
- Cancer Research UK
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Created
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2019-04-23Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-06-01Created from EPrint's last_modified field