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Satou-Kobayashi Y, Takahashi S, Haramoto Y, Asashima M, Taira M. Zbtb11 interacts with Otx2 and patterns the anterior neuroectoderm in Xenopus. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0293852. [PMID: 39083515 PMCID: PMC11290676 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The zinc finger and BTB domain-containing 11 gene (zbtb11) is expressed in the Xenopus anterior neuroectoderm, but the molecular nature of the Zbtb11 protein during embryonic development remains to be elucidated. Here, we show the role of Zbtb11 in anterior patterning of the neuroectoderm and the cooperative action with the transcription factor Otx2. Both overexpression and knockdown of zbtb11 caused similar phenotypes: expanded expression of the posterior gene gbx2 in the neural plate, and later microcephaly with reduced eyes, suggesting that a proper level of zbtb11 expression is necessary for normal patterning of the neuroectoderm, including eye formation. Co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that Zbtb11 formed a complex with itself and with a phosphomimetic and repressive form of Otx2, suggesting that Zbtb11 forms a dimer or oligomer and interacts with Otx2 in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. Reporter analysis further showed that Zbtb11 enhanced the activity of the phosphomimetic Otx2 to repress a silencer element of the posterior gene meis3. These data suggest that Zbtb11 coordinates with phosphorylated Otx2 to specify the anterior neuroectoderm by repressing posterior genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yumeko Satou-Kobayashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shuji Takahashi
- Amphibian Research Center, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Yoshikazu Haramoto
- Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
- Department of Agri-Production Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Makoto Asashima
- Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masanori Taira
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
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Asashima M, Satou-Kobayashi Y. Spemann-Mangold organizer and mesoderm induction. Cells Dev 2024; 178:203903. [PMID: 38295873 DOI: 10.1016/j.cdev.2024.203903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
The discovery of the Spemann-Mangold organizer strongly influenced subsequent research on embryonic induction, with research aiming to elucidate the molecular characteristics of organizer activity being currently underway. Herein, we review the history of research on embryonic induction, and describe how the mechanisms of induction phenomena and developmental processes have been investigated. Classical experiments investigating the differentiation capacity and inductive activity of various embryonic regions were conducted by many researchers, and important theories of region-specific induction and the concept for chain of induction were proposed. The transition from experimental embryology to developmental biology has enabled us to understand the mechanisms of embryonic induction at the molecular level. Consequently, many inducing substances and molecules such as transcriptional factors and peptide growth factors involved in the organizer formation were identified. One of peptide growth factors, activin, acts as a mesoderm- and endoderm-inducing substance. Activin induces several tissues and organs from the undifferentiated cell mass of amphibian embryos in a concentration-dependent manner. We review the extent to which we can control in vitro organogenesis from undifferentiated cells, and discuss the application to stem cell-based regenerative medicine based on insights gained from animal experiments, such as in amphibians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makoto Asashima
- Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0003, Japan.
| | - Yumeko Satou-Kobayashi
- Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0003, Japan
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Moreau M, Leclerc C, Néant I. [The saga of neural induction: almost a century of research]. Med Sci (Paris) 2020; 36:1018-1026. [PMID: 33151865 DOI: 10.1051/medsci/2020172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural induction is a developmental process that allows cells from the ectoderm (the target tissue) to acquire a neural fate in response to signals coming from a specific adjacent embryonic region, the dorsal mesoderm (the inducing tissue). This process described in 1924 in amphibian embryos has not received a molecular explanation until the mid-1990s. Most of the work on neural induction has been carried out in amphibians. At these times, although the role played by the membrane of the target tissue had been suggested, no definitive work had been performed on the transduction of the neuralizing signal. Between 1990 and 2019 our aim was to decipher this transduction. We have underlined the necessary and sufficient role played by calcium signaling to induce ectoderm cells towards a neural fate from the activation of calcium channels to the direct transcription of early neural genes by calcium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Moreau
- Centre de biologie du développement (CBD), Centre de biologie intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062, Toulouse, France
| | - Catherine Leclerc
- Centre de biologie du développement (CBD), Centre de biologie intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062, Toulouse, France
| | - Isabelle Néant
- Centre de biologie du développement (CBD), Centre de biologie intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062, Toulouse, France
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Sonntag KC, Simunovic F, Sanchez-Pernaute R. Stem cells and cell replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease. JOURNAL OF NEURAL TRANSMISSION. SUPPLEMENTUM 2010:287-99. [PMID: 20411787 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-211-92660-4_24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a progressive degeneration of the midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) that predominantly affects the ventral population projecting to the dorsal striatum and leads to a gradual dysfunction of the motor system. There is currently no cure for PD. Pharmacological and surgical (e.g. deep brain stimulation) interventions can alleviate some of the symptoms, but lose their efficacy over time. The distinct loss of DA neurons in the SN offers the opportunity to assay neuronal cell replacement, and the clinical transplantation of fetal midbrain neuroblasts in PD patients has shown that this approach is feasible. However, there are multiple problems associated with the use of fetus-derived material, including limited availability. DA neurons derived from stem cells (SC) represent an alternative and unlimited cell source for cell replacement therapies. Currently, human pluripotent SC, such as embryonic (ES), and most recently, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and multipotent (tissue-specific) adult SC are available, although the methodology for a reliable and efficient production of DA neurons necessary for biomedical applications is still underdeveloped. Here, we discuss some essentials for SC and SC-derived DA neurons to become therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- K-C Sonntag
- Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, MRC 223 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, USA.
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Zagris N, Christopoulos M, Giakoumaki A. Developmentally regulated expression and functional role of alpha7 integrin in the chick embryo. Dev Growth Differ 2004; 46:299-307. [PMID: 15206960 DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-169x.2004.00747.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Integrin alpha 7 beta 1 is a specific cellular receptor for laminin. In the present work, we studied the distribution pattern of the alpha 7 subunit by immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation and the role of the integrin by blocking antibodies in early chick embryos. alpha 7 immunoreactivity was first detectable in the neural plate during neural furrow formation (stage HH5, early neurula, Hamburger & Hamilton 1951) and its expression was upregulated in the neural folds during primary neurulation. The alpha 7 expression domain spanned the entire neural tube by stage HH8 (4 somites), and was then downregulated and confined to the neuroepithelial cells in the germinal region near the lumen and the ventrolateral margins of the neural tube in embryos by the onset of stage HH17 (29 somites). Expression of alpha 7 in the neural tube was transient suggesting that alpha 7 functions during neural tube closure and axon guidance and may not be required for neuronal differentiation or for the maintenance of the differentiated cell types. alpha 7 immunoreactivity was strong in the newly formed epithelial somites, although this expression was restricted only to the myotome in the mature somites. The most intense alpha 7 immunoreactivity was detectable in the paired heart primordia and the endoderm apposing the heart primordia in embryos at stage HH8. In the developing heart, alpha 7 immunoreactivity was: (i) intense in the myocardium; (ii) milder in the endocardial cushions of the ventricle; (iii) intense in the sinus venosus; (iv) distinct in the associated blood vessels; and (v) undetectable in the dorsal mesocardium of embryos at stage HH17. Inhibition of function of alpha 7 by blocking antibodies showed that alpha 7 integrin-laminin signaling may play a critical role in tissue organization of the neural plate and neural tube closure, in tissue morphogenesis of the heart tube but not in the directional migration of pre-cardiac cells, and in somite epithelialization but not in segment formation in presomitic mesoderm. In embryos treated with alpha 7 antibody, the formation of median somites in place of a notochord was intriguing and suggested that alpha 7 integrin-laminin signaling may have played a role in segment re-specification in the mesoderm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolas Zagris
- Division of Genetics and Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Biology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
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Tiedemann H, Asashima M, Grunz H, Knöchel W. Pluripotent cells (stem cells) and their determination and differentiation in early vertebrate embryogenesis. Dev Growth Differ 2001; 43:469-502. [PMID: 11576166 DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-169x.2001.00599.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Mammalian embryonic stem cells can be obtained from the inner cell mass of blastocysts or from primordial germ cells. These stem cells are pluripotent and can develop into all three germ cell layers of the embryo. Somatic mammalian stem cells, derived from adult or fetal tissues, are more restricted in their developmental potency. Amphibian ectodermal and endodermal cells lose their pluripotency at the early gastrula stage. The dorsal mesoderm of the marginal zone is determined before the mid-blastula transition by factors located after cortical rotation in the marginal zone, without induction by the endoderm. Secreted maternal factors (BMP, FGF and activins), maternal receptors and maternal nuclear factors (beta-catenin, Smad and Fast proteins), which form multiprotein transcriptional complexes, act together to initiate pattern formation. Following mid-blastula transition in Xenopus laevis (Daudin) embryos, secreted nodal-related (Xnr) factors become important for endoderm and mesoderm differentiation to maintain and enhance mesoderm induction. Endoderm can be induced by high concentrations of activin (vegetalizing factor) or nodal-related factors, especially Xnr5 and Xnr6, which depend on Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and on VegT, a vegetal maternal transcription factor. Together, these and other factors regulate the equilibrium between endoderm and mesoderm development. Many genes are activated and/or repressed by more than one signaling pathway and by regulatory loops to refine the tuning of gene expression. The nodal related factors, BMP, activins and Vg1 belong to the TGF-beta superfamily. The homeogenetic neural induction by the neural plate probably reinforces neural induction and differentiation. Medical and ethical problems of future stem cell therapy are briefly discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Tiedemann
- Institut für Molekularbiologie und Biochemie der Freien Universtität Berlin, Arnimallee 22, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
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Altmann CR, Brivanlou AH. Neural patterning in the vertebrate embryo. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CYTOLOGY 2001; 203:447-82. [PMID: 11131523 DOI: 10.1016/s0074-7696(01)03013-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 138] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
The embryonic central nervous system (CNS) is patterned along its antero-posterior, dorsal-ventral, and left-right axes. Along the dorsal-ventral axis, cell fate determination occurs during and following neural tube closure and involves the action of two opposing signaling pathways: SHH ventrally from the notochord and BMP/GDF dorsally from the boundary of neural and nonneural ectoderm and later from the roof plate. In addition, Wnt and retinoic acid signaling have been shown to act in dorsal-ventral patterning; however, their roles are understood in less detail. Along the antero-posterior axis, signals divide the neural tube into four major divisions: forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, and spinal cord, and these differences can be detected soon after the formation of the neural plate. The FGF, Wnt, and retinoic acid signaling pathways have been implicated in the caudalization of neural tissue. Boundaries of Hox gene expression are observed along the anteroposterior axis and have been suggested to be involved in establishing different identities in the hindbrain and spinal cord. Complex gene expression patterns in the brain suggest the development of neuromeres dividing the brain into different regions that are elaborated further during development. Patterning along the left-right axis occurs concurrently with antero-posterior and dorsal-ventral patterning during gastrulation. A leading candidate for initiating asymmetry is activin, which acts through Nodal and Lefty before any morphological differences are observed. The big challenge will be understanding how these diverse signaling pathways interact both temporally and spatially to generate the complex adult nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- C R Altmann
- The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021, USA
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Affiliation(s)
- J S Mumm
- Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
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