A post-mid-blastula transition requirement for TGFbeta signaling in early endodermal specification.
In Xenopus, endodermal cell fate is determined gradually from late blastula to early gastrula stages; cell-cell interaction plays an important role in this process. Here we use a cell dissociation assay to show that extracellular signaling is required continuously before endoderm determination. Activin and Vg1, but not BMP2 or basic FGF, rescue the expression of endodermal markers in dissociated cells when provided at the mid-blastula transition (MBT, the time in which zygotic transcription begins). Removal of exogenously added activin or Vg1 before MBT results in reduction of endodermal gene expression in dissociated vegetal cells. In vivo, endogenous endodermal markers are reduced in vegetal explants when activin-like signaling is blocked with dominant negative receptors. VegT, a maternal transcription factor shown to be critical for endoderm specification, relies on an active TGFbeta pathway to induce endoderm in animal caps. These results indicate that TGFbeta signaling may be activated by the maternally expressed VegT to participate in endoderm determination. In addition, VegT function seems to be required in parallel with the TGFbeta pathway, as overexpression of activin does not relieve endoderm repression by a dominant negative VegT mutant in vegetal cells. Our data suggest that maternal VegT first activates a zygotic TGFbeta signal, then cooperates with this signal to determine the endodermal cell fate.
Chang
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Department of Vertebrate Molecular Embryology, Box 32, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Hemmati-Brivanlou
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A
D028341:Activins; D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004707:Endoderm / Q000502:physiology*; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007265:Inhibins / Q000378:metabolism; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D014981:Xenopus; D029867:Xenopus Proteins
D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; C513103:GDF1 protein, Xenopus; D006023:Glycoproteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; C103966:VegT protein, Xenopus; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D028341:Activins; D007265:Inhibins