October 28, 2022
Keio University
Yuki Kogure, a second-year master's student at the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, along with Professor Kotaro Oka and Associate Professor Koji Hotta from the university's Faculty of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Professor C. P. Heisenberg and Dr. Benoit Godard of IST Austria, have discovered a gene that controls the shape of the ventrally curved ascidian embryo. Furthermore, they revealed that this gene creates the comma-shaped embryo by changing the shape of some epidermal cells, and proposed a new model for the tail curvature mechanism.
Many chordates, from ascidians to humans, exhibit several similar morphologies during the tailbud stage (when the tail is formed). One of these is the ventral curvature of the embryo. In this study, the researchers discovered that when the ascidian tail curves ventrally, the epidermal cells become "boat-shaped cells" with a special three-dimensional structure. Based on these findings, they proposed a model in which the formation of these boat-shaped cells controls tail curvature. In this model, the elongation force of the notochord, the central axial tissue of the tail, and the resistance force from the boat-shaped cells found only in the ventral epidermis work together to cause the tail to curve ventrally.
These research findings are expected to contribute significantly to the understanding of morphogenesis of the entire body in various chordates. Additionally, it is thought that they will be useful for the development of regenerative medicine to create three-dimensional tissues and organs and for advancements in techniques to artificially create embryos in vitro.
The research results were published on October 19, 2022, in "Development," an international journal of developmental biology.
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