Convergence and Extension Movements During Vertebrate Gastrulation

Convergence and Extension Movements During Vertebrate Gastrulation,

Chunyue Yin, Brian Ciruna, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel

In: Thomas Lecuit, Editor(s), Current Topics in Developmental Biology, Academic Press, 2009, Volume 89, Pages 163-192, DOI: 10.1016/S0070-2153(09)89007-8.

CCN3 – A key regulator of the hematopoietic compartment

CCN3 – A key regulator of the hematopoietic compartment.

McCallum L, Irvine AE.
Blood Rev. 2008 Aug 25.

Visualization of Cartilage Formation: Insight into Cellular Properties of Skeletal Progenitors and Chondrodysplasia Syndromes

Visualization of Cartilage Formation: Insight into Cellular Properties of Skeletal Progenitors and Chondrodysplasia Syndromes

Visualization of Cartilage Formation: Insight into Cellular Properties of Skeletal Progenitors and Chondrodysplasia Syndromes

Maria Barna and Lee Niswander

Developmental Cell, Volume 12, Issue 6, 5 June 2007, Pages 931-941

The cellular events underlying skeletal morphogenesis and the formation of cartilage templates are largely unknown. We generated an imaging system to dynamically visualize limb mesenchymal cells undergoing successive phases in cartilage formation and to delineate the cellular function of key regulators of chondrogenesis found mutated in chondrodysplasia syndromes. We uncovered an unsuspected role for Sox9 in control of cell morphology, independent from its major downstream target ColIIa, critically required for the mesenchyme-to-chondrocyte transition. In contrast, Bmp signaling regulates a cellular program we term “compaction” in which mesenchymal cells acquire a cohesive cell behavior required to delineate the boundaries and size of cartilage elements. Moreover, we visualized labeled progenitor cells from different regions of the limb bud and identified unique cellular properties that may direct their contribution toward specific skeletal elements such as the humerus or digits. These findings shed light on the cellular basis for chondrodysplasia syndromes and formation of the vertebrate skeleton.

Cessation of gastrulation is mediated by suppression of EMT at the VER

Cessation of gastrulation is mediated by suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition at the ventral ectodermal ridge

Sho Ohta, Kentaro Suzuki, Katsuro Tachibana, Hideaki Tanaka and Gen Yamada

Development 134, 4315-4324(2007) doi:10.1242/dev.008151