Generation of mice with functional inactivation of talpid3, a gene first identified in chicken

Application of synthetic photostable retinoids induces novel limb and facial phenotypes during chick embryogenesis in vivo

We have recently developed a range of synthetic retinoid analogues which include the compounds EC23 and EC19. They are stable on exposure to light and are predicted to be resistant to the normal metabolic processes involved in the inactivation of retinoids in vivo. Based on the position of the terminal carboxylic acid groups in the compounds we suggest that EC23 is a structural analogue of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), and EC19 is an analogue of 13-cis retinoic acid. Their effects on the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells has been previously described in vitro and are consistent with this hypothesis. We present herein the first description of the effects of these molecules in vivo. Retinoids were applied to the anterior limb buds of chicken embryos in ovo via ion-exchange beads. We found that retinoid EC23 produces effects on the wing digits similar to ATRA, but does so at two orders of magnitude lower concentration. When larger quantities of EC23 are applied, a novel phenotype is obtained involving production of multiple digit 1s on the anterior limb. This corresponds to differential effects of ATRA and EC23 on sonic hedgehog (shh) expression in the developing limb bud. With EC23 application we also find digit 1 phenotypes similar to thumb duplications described in the clinical literature. EC23 and ATRA are shown to have effects on the entire proximal–distal axis of the limb, including hitherto undescribed effects on the scapula. This includes suppression of expression of the scapula marker Pax1. EC23 also produces effects similar to those of ATRA on the developing face, producing reductions of the upper beak at concentrations two orders of magnitude lower than ATRA. In contrast, EC19, which is structurally very similar to EC23, has novel, less severe effects on the face and rarely alters limb development. EC19 and ATRA are effective at similar concentrations. These results further demonstrate the ability of retinoids to influence embryonic development. Moreover, EC23 represents a useful new tool to investigate developmental processes and probe the mechanisms underlying congenital abnormalities in vertebrates including man.

It's never too early to get it Right: A conserved role for the cytoskeleton in left-right asymmetry

For centuries, scientists and physicians have been captivated by the consistent left-right (LR) asymmetry of the heart, viscera, and brain. A recent study implicated tubulin proteins in establishing laterality in several experimental models, including asymmetric chemosensory receptor expression in C. elegans neurons, polarization of HL-60 human neutrophil-like cells in culture, and asymmetric organ placement in Xenopus. The same mutations that randomized asymmetry in these diverse systems also affect chirality in Arabidopsis, revealing a remarkable conservation of symmetry-breaking mechanisms among kingdoms. In Xenopus, tubulin mutants only affected LR patterning very early, suggesting that this axis is established shortly after fertilization. This addendum summarizes and extends the knowledge of the cytoskeleton's role in the patterning of the LR axis. Results from many species suggest a conserved role for the cytoskeleton as the initiator of asymmetry, and indicate that symmetry is first broken during early embryogenesis by an intracellular process.

A unified model for left-right asymmetry? Comparison and synthesis of molecular models of embryonic laterality

Understanding how and when the left-right (LR) axis is first established is a fundamental question in developmental biology. A popular model is that the LR axis is established relatively late in embryogenesis, due to the movement of motile cilia and the resultant directed fluid flow during late gastrulation/early neurulation. Yet, a large body of evidence suggests that biophysical, molecular, and bioelectrical asymmetries exist much earlier in development, some as early as the first cell cleavage after fertilization. Alternative models of LR asymmetry have been proposed that accommodate these data, postulating that asymmetry is established due to a chiral cytoskeleton and/or the asymmetric segregation of chromatids. There are some similarities, and many differences, in how these various models postulate the origin and timing of symmetry breaking and amplification, and these events' linkage to the well-conserved subsequent asymmetric transcriptional cascades. This review examines experimental data that lend strong support to an early origin of LR asymmetry, yet are also consistent with later roles for cilia in the amplification of LR pathways. In this way, we propose that the various models of asymmetry can be unified: early events are needed to initiate LR asymmetry, and later events could be utilized by some species to maintain LR-biases. We also present an alternative hypothesis, which proposes that individual embryos stochastically choose one of several possible pathways with which to establish their LR axis. These two hypotheses are both tractable in appropriate model species; testing them to resolve open questions in the field of LR patterning will reveal interesting new biology of wide relevance to developmental, cell, and evolutionary biology.

Failure of centrosome migration causes a loss of motile cilia in talpid(3) mutants

BACKGROUND

Loss of function mutations in the centrosomal protein TALPID3 (KIAA0586) cause a failure of primary cilia formation in animal models and are associated with defective Hedgehog signalling. It is unclear, however, if TALPID3 is required only for primary cilia formation or if it is essential for all ciliogenesis, including that of motile cilia in multiciliate cells.

RESULTS

FOXJ1, a key regulator of multiciliate cell fate, is expressed in the dorsal neuroectoderm of the chicken forebrain and hindbrain at stage 20HH, in areas that will give rise to choroid plexuses in both wt and talpid(3) embryos. Wt ependymal cells of the prosencephalic choroid plexuses subsequently transition from exhibiting single short cilia to multiple long motile cilia at 29HH (E8). Primary cilia and long motile cilia were only rarely observed on talpid(3) ependymal cells. Electron microscopy determined that talpid(3) ependymal cells do develop multiple centrosomes in accordance with FOXJ1 expression, but these fail to migrate to the apical surface of ependymal cells although axoneme formation was sometimes observed.

CONCLUSIONS

TALPID3, which normally localises to the proximal centrosome, is essential for centrosomal migration prior to ciliogenesis but is not directly required for de novo centriologenesis, multiciliated fate, or axoneme formation.

Digit patterning during limb development as a result of the BMP-receptor interaction

Turing models have been proposed to explain the emergence of digits during limb development. However, so far the molecular components that would give rise to Turing patterns are elusive. We have recently shown that a particular type of receptor-ligand interaction can give rise to Schnakenberg-type Turing patterns, which reproduce patterning during lung and kidney branching morphogenesis. Recent knockout experiments have identified Smad4 as a key protein in digit patterning. We show here that the BMP-receptor interaction meets the conditions for a Schnakenberg-type Turing pattern, and that the resulting model reproduces available wildtype and mutant data on the expression patterns of BMP, its receptor, and Fgfs in the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) when solved on a realistic 2D domain that we extracted from limb bud images of E11.5 mouse embryos. We propose that receptor-ligand-based mechanisms serve as a molecular basis for the emergence of Turing patterns in many developing tissues.

Paraxial left-sided nodal expression and the start of left-right patterning in the early chick embryo

A common element during early left-right patterning of the vertebrate body is left-sided nodal expression in the early-somite stage lateral plate mesoderm. Leftward cell movements near the node of the gastrulating chick embryo recently offered a plausible mechanism for breaking the presomite-stage molecular symmetry in those vertebrates which lack rotating cilia on the notochord or equivalent tissues. However, the temporal and functional relationships between generation of the known morphological node asymmetry, onset of leftward cell movements and establishment of stable molecular asymmetry in the chick remain unresolved. This study uses high-resolution light microscopy and in situ gene expression analysis to show that intranodal cell rearrangement during the phase of counter-clockwise node torsion at stage 4+ is immediately followed by symmetry loss and rearrangement of shh and fgf8 expression in node epiblast between stages 5- and 5+. Surprisingly, left-sided nodal expression starts at stage 5-, too, but lies in the paraxial mesoderm next to the forming notochordal plate, and can be rendered symmetrical by minimal mechanical disturbance of distant tissue integrity at stage 4. The "premature" paraxial nodal expression together with morphological and molecular asymmetries in, and near, midline compartments occurring at defined substages of early gastrulation help to identify a new narrow time window for early steps in left-right patterning in the chick and support the concept of a causal relationship between a-still enigmatic-chiral (motor) protein, cell movements and incipient left-right asymmetry in the amniote embryo.

The Sonic hedgehog gradient in the developing limb

A gradient of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) plays a major role in specifying the antero-posterior pattern of structures that develop in the distal part of the vertebrate limb, in particular, the antero-posterior pattern of the digits. Classical embryological experiments identified the polarizing region (or zone of polarizing activity, ZPA), a signaling region at the posterior margin of the early chick wing bud and, consistent with a model in which production of a diffusible morphogen specifies antero-posterior positional information, polarizing region signaling was shown to be dose dependent and long range. It is now well established that the vertebrate hedgehog gene, Sonic hedgehog (Shh), which encodes a secreted protein, is expressed in the polarizing region of the chick wing and that Shh signaling has the same characteristics as polarizing region signaling. Shh expression at the posterior of the early limb bud and the mechanism of Shh signal transduction are conserved among vertebrates including mammals. However, it is unlikely that a simple Shh gradient is responsible for digit pattern formation in mammalian limbs and there is still little understanding of how positional information specified by Shh signaling is encoded and translated into digit anatomy. Alterations in Shh signaling underlie some congenital limb abnormalities and also changes in timing and extent of Shh signaling appear to be related to the evolution of morphological diversity of vertebrate limbs.

Targeted mutation of the talpid3 gene in zebrafish reveals its conserved requirement for ciliogenesis and Hedgehog signalling across the vertebrates

Using zinc-finger nuclease-mediated mutagenesis, we have generated mutant alleles of the zebrafish orthologue of the chicken talpid3 (ta3) gene, which encodes a centrosomal protein that is essential for ciliogenesis. Animals homozygous for these mutant alleles complete embryogenesis normally, but manifest a cystic kidney phenotype during the early larval stages and die within a month of hatching. Elimination of maternally derived Ta3 activity by germline replacement resulted in embryonic lethality of ta3 homozygotes. The phenotype of such maternal and zygotic (MZta3) mutant zebrafish showed strong similarities to that of chick ta3 mutants: absence of primary and motile cilia as well as aberrant Hedgehog (Hh) signalling, the latter manifest by the expanded domains of engrailed and ptc1 expression in the somites, reduction of nkx2.2 expression in the neural tube, symmetric pectoral fins, cyclopic eyes and an ectopic lens. GFP-tagged Gli2a localised to the basal bodies in the absence of the primary cilia and western blot analysis showed that Gli2a protein is aberrantly processed in MZta3 embryos. Zygotic expression of ta3 largely rescued the effects of maternal depletion, but the motile cilia of Kupffer's vesicle remained aberrant, resulting in laterality defects. Our findings underline the importance of the primary cilium for Hh signaling in zebrafish and reveal the conservation of Ta3 function during vertebrate evolution.

Linking early determinants and cilia-driven leftward flow in left-right axis specification of Xenopus laevis: a theoretical approach

In vertebrates, laterality - the asymmetric placement of the viscera including organs of the gastrointestinal system, heart and lungs - is under the genetic control of a conserved signaling pathway in the left lateral plate mesoderm (LPM). A key feature of this pathway, shared by embryos of all non-avian vertebrate classes analyzed to date (e.g. fish, amphibia and mammals) is the formation of a transitory midline epithelial structure. Remarkably, the motility of cilia projecting from this epithelium produce a leftward-directed movement of extracellular liquid. This leftward flow precedes any sign of asymmetry in gene expression. Numerous analyses have shown that this leftward flow is not only necessary, but indeed sufficient to direct laterality. Interestingly, however, cilia-independent mechanisms acting much earlier in development in the frog Xenopus have been reported during the earliest cleavage stages, a period before any major zygotic gene transcription. The relationship between these two distinct mechanisms is not understood. In this review we present the conserved and critical steps of Xenopus LR axis formation. Next, we address the basic question of how an early asymmetric activity might contribute to, feed into, or regulate the conserved cilia-dependent pathway. Finally, we discuss the possibility that Spemann's organizer is itself polarized in the left-right dimension. In attempting to reconcile the sufficiency of the cilia-dependent pathway with potential earlier-acting asymmetries, we offer a general practical experimental checklist for the Xenopus community working on the process of left-right determination. This approach indicates areas where work still needs to be done to clarify the relationship between early determinants and cilia-driven leftward flow.