lation. Recent studies show that signaling through integrin As a first step in describing the nature of the crosstalk receptors is required for normal cell movements durbetween integrin and C-cadherin, Marsden and DeSiing Xenopus gastrulation. Integrins function in this mone present evidence that integrin-mediated homoprocess by modulating the activity of cadherin adhetypic cell binding in diff...

Recent work shows that Wnt signaling directly regulates the apical constriction that drives gastrulation movements in Caenorhabditis elegans, and also promotes invagination in sea urchins, providing a novel and possibly conserved mode of developmental regulation.

Cell interactions are important during gastrulation in many particularly those of Holtfreter, firmly established systems. Sea urchin gastrulation provides a simple model sys­ that tem for understanding these cell interactions, and many of "the directed movements of embryonic regions the cell behaviors that contribute to gastrulation have been can actually be traced back to basic faculties of th...

For more than a century, vertebrate taste buds have been singled out as the prime example of neural induction of sensory organs during development. This view has held that late in embryogenesis, sensory nerve fibers contacted the oral and pharyngeal epithelia, and induced a subset of epithelial cells to give rise to multicellular taste buds (Guth, 1957; Hosley et al., 1987; Torrey, 1940). The i...

During vertebrate gastrulation, coordinated cell movements shape the basic body plan. Key components of gastrulation are convergence and extension (C&E) movements, which narrow and lengthen the embryonic tissues, respectively. The rates of C&E movements differ significantly according to the position and the stage of gastrulation. Here, we review the distinct cellular behaviors that define the s...

Ventral furrow formation is a key morphogenetic event during Drosophila gastrulation that leads to the internalization of mesodermal precursors. While genetic analysis has revealed the genes involved in the specification of ventral furrow cells, few of the structural proteins that act as mediators of ventral cell behavior have been identified. A comparative proteomics approach employing differe...

Polyamine synthesis and accumulation was studied in several species of developing sea urchins. Most striking is the presence in the gametes of a large amount of spermine, with low amounts of putrescine and spermidine. This contrasts with the pattern of polyamines present in both micro-organisms and mammals. Micro-organisms contain mainly putrescine and spermidine and adult mammalian tissues usu...

The main event is when physiologic EMT is seen in gastrulation; formation and migration of neural crest cells.[3] The progression of EMT is further classified into primary (1°), secondary (2°) and tertiary (3°) EMT,[2] depending on the number or sequential sweeps of EMT and mesenchymal‐epithelial transition (MET).[2] MET signifies the conversion of the mesenchymal phenotype back into the epithe...