title: Regulatory blueprint for a chordate embryo.
abstract: Ciona is an emerging model system for elucidating gene networks in development. Comprehensive in situ hybridization assays have identified 76 regulatory genes with localized expression patterns in the early embryo, at the time when naïve blastomeres are determined to follow specific cell fates. Systematic gene disruption assays provided more than 3000 combinations of gene expression profiles in mutant backgrounds. Deduced gene circuit diagrams describing the formation of larval tissues were computationally visualized. These diagrams constitute a blueprint for the Ciona embryo and provide a foundation for understanding the evolutionary origins of the chordate body plan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaoru S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: Nori
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D005775:Gastrula / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D055457:Nodal Protein; D009672:Notochord / Q000196:embryology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D055457:Nodal Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta