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PMID: 1682146 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Ectopic expression of a homeobox gene changes cell fate in Xenopus embryos in a position-specific manner.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 10 ·No. 12 ·1991-12-00 ·Pages 3621-9

Niehrs C, De Robertis EM

Abstract

We have injected XIHbox 6 mRNA together with the lineage tracer colloidal gold into individual dorso-anterior blastomeres of the 32-cell stage Xenopus embryo and analyzed their cell fate during embryogenesis. While the developing tadpoles appeared entirely normal, the fate of the progeny of the injected blastomere was altered. In the brain injected cells failed to differentiate terminally, as indicated by a loss of labeled cranial nerves. Differentiation of spinal nerves remained unaffected. Fate change in the CNS occurred at about the time of normal XIHbox 6 protein expression. In addition, progeny of injected blastomeres gained head epidermal fate and lost anterior notochord fate as a result of altered cell migrations during gastrulation. The results show that a homeodomain protein is capable of altering cell fate in a position-specific and cell-autonomous manner in Xenopus embryos. The experimental approach used here should be applicable to other molecules specifying cell fate.

MeSH Terms
Animals Blastomeres/cytology Brain/cytology,embryology Cell Differentiation DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics Female Gene Expression Genes, Homeobox Gold Immunohistochemistry Microinjections Neurons/cytology RNA, Messenger/genetics Spinal Cord/cytology,embryology Xenopus laevis
Chemicals
DNA-Binding Proteins HOXA9 protein, Xenopus RNA, Messenger Gold
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Niehrs C
Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1737.
De Robertis E M
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38 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
Published
1991-12-00
Pages
3621-9
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC453093
Subset
IM
Grants
NICHD NIH HHS · HD21502-06 · United States
External Links
PubMed source PMC Full Text View journal details
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