Publications related to Hunting for the wavefront: investigation of somite boundary positioning in zebrafish

A CTCF-dependent mechanism underlies the Hox timer relation to a segmented body plan

During gastrulation, Hox genes are activated in a timesequence that follows the order of the genes along their clusters. This property, which is observed in all animals that develop following a progressive rostral-to-caudal morphogenesis, is associated wit ...

Current Biology Ltd2024

How are cells instructed to form somite boundaries by the zebrafish segmentation clock?

Olivier François Venzin

In vertebrate embryos, the elongating body axis is patterned via the sequential and rhyth-mic production of segments from a posterior unsegmented tissue called the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). This process is controlled by a population of cellular oscillator ...

EPFL2023

Reaction wavefront theory of notochord segment patterning

Andrew Charles Oates

The vertebrate axis is segmented into repetitive structures, the vertebrae. In fish, these segmented structures are thought to form from the paraxial mesoderm and the adjacent notochord. Recent work revealed an autonomous patterning mechanism in the zebraf ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

Preparation of Single-Somite Explants from Zebrafish Embryos

Andrew Charles Oates, Sundar Ram Naganathan

The body axis of vertebrate embryos is periodically subdivided into 3D multicellular units called somites. While genetic oscillations and molecular prepatterns determine the initial length-scale of somites, mechanical processes have been implicated in sett ...

JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS2022

Patterning and mechanics of somite boundaries in zebrafish embryos

Andrew Charles Oates, Sundar Ram Naganathan

The body axis of vertebrates is subdivided into repetitive compartments called somites, which give rise primarily to the segmented architecture of the musculoskeletal system in the adult body. Somites form in a sequential and rhythmic manner in embryos and ...

2020

What are you synching about? Emerging complexity of Notch signaling in the segmentation clock

Olivier François Venzin, Andrew Charles Oates

The Segmentation clock is a population of cellular genetic oscillators, located in the posterior of the elongating vertebrate embryo, that governs the rhythmic and sequential segmentation of the body axis into somites. Somites are blocks of cells that give ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2020

Waiting on the Fringe: cell autonomy and signaling delays in segmentation clocks

Andrew Charles Oates

The rhythmic and sequential segmentation of the vertebrate body axis into somites during embryogenesis is governed by a multicellular, oscillatory patterning system called the segmentation clock. Despite many overt similarities between vertebrates, differe ...

2020

In vitro modeling of early mouse development

Mehmet Ugur Girgin

Previous attempts to recapitulate embryogenesis in a developmentally relevant context started with aggregates composed of a few thousand ESCs, termed embryoid bodies (EB), that upon induction of differentiation reveal a surprising level of autonomous cell ...

EPFL2020

Embryonic timing, axial stem cells, chromatin dynamics, and the Hox clock

Denis Duboule

Collinear regulation of Hox genes in space and time has been an outstanding question ever since the initial work of Ed Lewis in 1978. Here we discuss recent advances in our understanding of this phenomenon in relation to novel concepts associated with larg ...

2017

Integration of Shh and Fgf signaling in controlling Hox gene expression in cultured limb cells

Denis Duboule, Patrick Schorderet, Guillaume Andrey, Nayuta Yakushiji

During embryonic development, fields of progenitor cells form complex structures through dynamic interactions with external signaling molecules. How complex signaling inputs are integrated to yield appropriate gene expression responses is poorly understood ...

National Academy of Sciences2017

Faster embryonic segmentation through elevated Delta-Notch signalling

Andrew Charles Oates

An important step in understanding biological rhythms is the control of period. A multicellular, rhythmic patterning system termed the segmentation clock is thought to govern the sequential production of the vertebrate embryo's body segments, the somites. ...

Nature Publishing Group2016

Persistence, period and precision of autonomous cellular oscillators from the zebrafish segmentation clock

Andrew Charles Oates

In vertebrate development, the sequential and rhythmic segmentation of the body axis is regulated by a "segmentation clock". This clock is comprised of a population of coordinated oscillating cells that together produce rhythmic gene expression patterns in ...

2016

Timing by rhythms: Daily clocks and developmental rulers

Andrew Charles Oates

Biological rhythms are widespread, allowing organisms to temporally organize their behavior and metabolism in advantageous ways. Such proper timing of molecular and cellular events is critical to their development and health. This is best understood in the ...

2016

ProNodal acts via FGFR3 to govern duration of Shh expression in the prechordal mesoderm

Daniel Constam

The secreted glycoprotein sonic hedgehog (Shh) is expressed in the prechordal mesoderm, where it plays a crucial role in induction and patterning of the ventral forebrain. Currently little is known about how Shh is regulated in prechordal tissue. Here we s ...

Company of Biologists2015

Tetrapod axial evolution and developmental constraints; Empirical underpinning by a mouse model

Denis Duboule

The tetrapod vertebral column has become increasingly complex during evolution as an adaptation to a terrestrial life. At the same time, the evolution of the vertebral formula became subject to developmental constraints acting on the size of the cervical a ...

Elsevier2015

Regulatory Switches Underlie Hoxd Gene Activation in Tetrapod Limbs

Guillaume Andrey

Accurate spatio-temporal control of Hox cluster genes expression is critical for the proper organization of body structures during vertebrate embryogenesis. In the limbs, Hoxd genes are critical in setting up the proximodistal and anteroposterior axes. Sev ...

EPFL2013

A switch between topological domains underlies HoxD genes collinearity in mouse limbs

Denis Duboule, Didier Trono, Guillaume Andrey, Daniël Noordermeer, Marion Leleu

Hox genes are major determinants of the animal body plan, where they organize structures along both the trunk and appendicular axes. During mouse limb development, Hoxd genes are transcribed in two waves: early on, when the arm and forearm are specified, a ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2013

Undirected compensatory plasticity contributes to neuronal dysfunction after severe spinal cord injury

Grégoire Courtine, Janine Beauparlant, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Quentin Barraud, Pavel Musienko

Severe spinal cord injury in humans leads to a progressive neuronal dysfunction in the chronic stage of the injury. This dysfunction is characterized by premature exhaustion of muscle activity during assisted locomotion, which is associated with the emerge ...

Oxford University Press2013

Topology and dynamics of the zebrafish segmentation clock core circuit

Bart Deplancke, Sebastian Maerkl, Alina Isakova, Andrew Charles Oates, Daniele Soroldoni

During vertebrate embryogenesis, the rhythmic and sequential segmentation of the body axis is regulated by an oscillating genetic network termed the segmentation clock. We describe a new dynamic model for the core pace-making circuit of the zebrafish segme ...

2012