BACKGROUND Embryonic patterning mechanisms regulate the cytoskeletal machinery that drives morphogenesis, but there are few cases where links between patterning mechanisms and morphogenesis are well understood. We have used a combination of genetics, in vivo imaging, and cell manipulations to identify such links in C. elegans gastrulation. Gastrulation in C. elegans begins with the internalizat...

Mesoderm induction begins during gastrulation. Recent evidence from several vertebrate species indicates that mesoderm induction continues after gastrulation in neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs) within the posteriormost embryonic structure, the tailbud. It is unclear to what extent the molecular mechanisms of mesoderm induction are conserved between gastrula and post-gastrula stages of develop...

Gastrulation is characterized by the differentiation of pluripotent cells to generate the germ layers, morphogenetic movements, a decrease in cell proliferation and establishment of the embryonic axes. We show by Cdx1 knock-down that it functions as a regulator of the onset of gastrulation in agreement with its early expression. In a microarray-based approach to search for Cdx1 targets, we iden...

To predict the effects of global change on marine populations, it is important to measure the effects of climate stressors on performance and potential for adaptation. Adaptation depends on heritable genetic variance for stress tolerance being present in populations. We determined the effects of near-future ocean conditions on fertilization success of the sea urchin Pseudoboletia indiana. In 16...

Cnidarians (corals, sea anemones, hydroids, and jellyfish) are a basal taxon closely related to bilaterally symmetrical animals and have been characterized as diploblastic and as radially symmetrical around their longitudinal axis. We show that some orthologs of key bilaterian dorso/ventral (D/V) patterning genes, including the TGFbeta signaling molecules NvDpp and NvBMP5-8 and their antagonist...

Gastrulation is the morphogenetic process by which, in metazoans, the germ layers are established in their characteristic spatial arrangement: ectoderm on the outside, endoderm inside, and mesoderm, if present, in between these two layers. Most often, the main activity of gastrulation involves the movement of the endoderm and mesoderm from the surface of the embryo to the interior, and a variet...

Gastrulation in C. elegans embryos involves ingression of individual cells, but is driven by apical constriction of the kind that promotes migration of epithelial cell sheets. Recent work shows that PAR proteins, known for their role in polarization and unequal cell division, are also associated with the polarization that establishes this apical constriction.