title: Mosaic evolution of neural development in anurans: acceleration of spinal cord development in the direct developing frog Eleutherodactylus coqui.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that spinal cord development in direct developing frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus, which have evolutionarily lost the tadpole stage, differs from that in biphasically developing anurans (with the larval and the adult stage separated by metamorphosis). The present study of spinal cord development in Eleutherodactylus coqui provides additional information about neurogenesis, neuronal differentiation and growth analyzed by immunostaining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), in situ hybridization for NeuroD, and morphometric measurements in various developmental stages. Furthermore, spinal cord development in the frogs Discoglossus pictus, Xenopus laevis, and Physalaemus pustulosus, which belong to different anuran families but all exhibit biphasic development, was similarly analyzed. This comparative analysis allows inference of the ancestral anuran pattern of spinal cord development and how it has been modified during the evolution of Eleutherodactylus. All biphasically developing frogs analyzed share a similar pattern of spinal cord development, suggesting that this is ancestral for anurans: after neural tube closure, levels of proliferation and neurogenesis in the spinal cord were low throughout embryogenesis until they were upregulated drastically at early larval stages followed by development of the lateral motor columns. In contrast, no such quiescent embryonic period exists in E. coqui, where rapid growth, high levels of proliferation and neurogenesis, and early formation of lateral motor columns occur shortly after neural tube closure, while other parts of the central nervous system develop more slowly. Thus, spinal cord development has been accelerated during the evolution of Eleutherodactylus relative to the development of other parts of the central nervous system, probably related to the precocious development of limbs in this lineage.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, FB 2, PO Box 33 04 40, 28334, Bremen, Germany. gschloss@uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schlosser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000196:embryology / Q000294:innervation; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007814:Larva / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009030:Mosaicism / Q000235:genetics; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011898:Ranidae / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C093564:Neurogenic differentiation factor 1