Dataset Information

Molecular evidence for deep evolutionary roots of bilaterality in animal development.

ABSTRACT: Nearly all metazoans show signs of bilaterality, yet it is believed the bilaterians arose from radially symmetric forms hundreds of millions of years ago. Cnidarians (corals, sea anemones, and "jellyfish") diverged from other animals before the radiation of the Bilateria. They are diploblastic and are often characterized as being radially symmetrical around their longitudinal (oral-aboral) axis. We have studied the deployment of orthologs of a number of family members of developmental regulatory genes that are expressed asymmetrically during bilaterian embryogenesis from the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. The secreted TGF-beta genes Nv-dpp, Nv-BMP5-8, six TGF-beta antagonists (NvChordin, NvNoggin1, NvNoggin2, NvGremlin, NvFollistatin, and NvFollistatin-like), the homeodomain proteins NvGoosecoid (NvGsc) and NvGbx, and the secreted guidance factor, NvNetrin, were studied. NvDpp, NvChordin, NvNoggin1, NvGsc, and NvNetrin are expressed asymmetrically along the axis perpendicular to the oral-aboral axis, the directive axis. Furthermore, NvGbx, and NvChordin are expressed in restricted domains on the left and right sides of the body, suggesting that the directive axis is homologous with the bilaterian dorsal-ventral axis. The asymmetric expression of NvNoggin1 and NvGsc appear to be maintained by the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. The asymmetric expression of NvNoggin1, NvNetrin, and Hox orthologs NvAnthox7, NvAnthox8, NvAnthox1a, and NvAnthox6, in conjunction with the observation that NvNoggin1 is able to induce a secondary axis in Xenopus embryos argues that N. vectensis could possess antecedents of the organization of the bilaterian central nervous system.

SUBMITTER: Matus DQ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1544064 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Molecular evidence for deep evolutionary roots of bilaterality in animal development.

Matus David Q DQ Pang Kevin K Marlow Heather H Dunn Casey W CW Thomsen Gerald H GH Martindale Mark Q MQ

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20060712 30

Nearly all metazoans show signs of bilaterality, yet it is believed the bilaterians arose from radially symmetric forms hundreds of millions of years ago. Cnidarians (corals, sea anemones, and "jellyfish") diverged from other animals before the radiation of the Bilateria. They are diploblastic and are often characterized as being radially symmetrical around their longitudinal (oral-aboral) axis. We have studied the deployment of orthologs of a number of family members of developmental regulatory ...[more]

PMID: 16837574

Similar Datasets

Project description:In this article, we explore a specific controversy about animal experimentation and animal models in the recent history of deep brain stimulation (DBS), and we question its ramifications. DBS development intertwines clinical practice with fundamental research and stands at the crossroads of multiple legacies. We take up the various issues and controversies embedded in this rarely addressed dispute, from a standpoint that combines socio-anthropological and legal aspects. Our starting point is a debate on the role of animal experimentation in the development of DBS between Jarrod Bailey, a researcher promoting the abolition of animal experimentation, and Alim Louis Benabid, Marwan Hariz, and Mahlon DeLong, three key figures in the area of DBS and neuroscience. By clarifying the positions of the different protagonists and retracing the issues raised in these discussions, our objective is to show how this specific debate has extended from its initial space and how it provides an object of study with heuristic scope. We first present this partially polemic discussion about the history of DBS, and its link with a more general debate on the validity and use of animal models and the need for animal experiments. Then, we raise the issue of the relations and interactions between experiments on animals and on humans in the logics of biomedical innovation. The third step is to situate the discussion within the wider framework of opposition towards animal experimentation and the promotion of animal' rights. Finally, combining these interweaved issues, possible implications emerge regarding the future of DBS. We show that behind these several controversies lie the question of translational research and the model of medicine upheld by DBS. We describe how the technology contributes to blurring the lines between research (fundamental, preclinical and clinical research) and care, as well as between humans and animals as substrates and objects of knowledge. The dynamics of DBS future development might then become a point of convergence for neuroscientists and animal rights defenders' interests.

Dataset Information

Molecular evidence for deep evolutionary roots of bilaterality in animal development.

Publications

Molecular evidence for deep evolutionary roots of bilaterality in animal development.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets