RhoA regulates initiation of invagination, but not convergent extension, during sea urchin gastrulation

During gastrulation, the archenteron is formed using cell shape changes, cell rearrangements, filopodial extensions, and convergent extension movements to elongate and shape the nascent gut tube. How these events are coordinated remains unknown, although much has been learned from careful morphologi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental biology 2006-04, Vol.292 (1), p.213-225
Main Authors: Beane, Wendy S., Gross, Jeffrey M., McClay, David R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brachyury
Cloning, Molecular
Convergent extension
Cytoskeleton - metabolism
Echinoidea
Extracellular Matrix - metabolism
Fetal Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors
Fetal Proteins - physiology
Gastrula - physiology
Gastrulation
Invagination
Lytechinus - embryology
Lytechinus - genetics
Lytechinus - physiology
Molecular Sequence Data
RhoA
rhoA GTP-Binding Protein - genetics
rhoA GTP-Binding Protein - physiology
Sea urchin
Sequence Analysis, Protein
T-Box Domain Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors
T-Box Domain Proteins - physiology
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Summary:During gastrulation, the archenteron is formed using cell shape changes, cell rearrangements, filopodial extensions, and convergent extension movements to elongate and shape the nascent gut tube. How these events are coordinated remains unknown, although much has been learned from careful morphological examinations and molecular perturbations. This study reports that RhoA is necessary to trigger archenteron invagination in the sea urchin embryo. Inhibition of RhoA results in a failure to initiate invagination movements, while constitutively active RhoA induces precocious invagination of the archenteron, complete with the actin rearrangements and extracellular matrix secretions that normally accompany the onset of invagination. Although RhoA activity has been reported to control convergent extension movements in vertebrate embryos, experiments herein show that RhoA activity does not regulate convergent extension movements during sea urchin gastrulation. Instead, the results support the hypothesis that RhoA serves as a trigger to initiate invagination, and once initiation occurs, RhoA activity is no longer involved in subsequent gastrulation movements.
ISSN:0012-1606
1095-564X
DOI:10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.12.031