Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 122, Issue 2, August 1987, Pages 300-319
Developmental Biology

Full paper
Fates of the blastomeres of the 32-cell-stage Xenopus embryo

https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-1606(87)90296-XGet rights and content

Abstract

A detailed fate map of all of the progeny derived from each of the blastomeres of the 32-cell-stage South African clawed frog embryo (Xenopus laevis), which were selected for stereotypic cleavages, is presented. Individual blastomeres were injected with horseradish peroxidase and all of their descendants in the late tailbud embryo (stages 32 to 34) were identified after histochemical processing of serial tissue sections and whole-mount preparations. The progeny of each blastomere were distributed characteristically, both in phenotype and location. Most organs were populated largely by the descendants of particular sets of blastomeres, the progeny of each often being restricted to defined spatial addresses. Thus, the descendants of any one blastomere were distinct and predictable when embryos were preselected for stereotypic cleavages. However, variations among embryos were common and the frequencies with which one may expect organs to contain progeny from any particular blastomere are reported. The differences in the fates of the 16-cell-stage blastomeres and their 32-cell-stage daughter blastomeres are outlined and can be grouped into three general categories. The two daughter cells may give rise to equal numbers of cells in a particular organ, one daughter cell may give rise to many more of the cells in an organ derived from the mother blastomere, or one daughter cell may give rise to all of the progeny in an organ derived from the mother blastomere. Thus, cell fates are segregated during cleavage stages in both symmetric and asymmetric manners, and the lineages exhibit a diversification mode (G. S. Stent, 1985, Philos. Trans R. Soc. London Ser. B 312, 3–19) of cell division.

References (45)

  • H. Nishida et al.

    Cell lineage analysis in ascidian embryos by intracellular injection of a tracer enzyme. I. Up to the eight-cell stage

    Dev. Biol

    (1983)
  • H. Nishida et al.

    Cell lineage analysis in ascidian embryos by intracellular injection of a tracer enzyme. II. The 16-and 32-cell stages

    Dev. Biol

    (1985)
  • J.E. Sulston et al.

    Postembryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans

    Dev. Biol

    (1977)
  • J.E. Sulston et al.

    The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

    Dev. Biol

    (1983)
  • D.A. Weisblat et al.

    Embryonic cell lineages in the nervous system of the glossiphoniid leech Helobdella triserialis

    Dev. Biol

    (1980)
  • D.A. Weisblat et al.

    Embryonic origins of cells in the leech Helobdella triserialis

    Dev. Biol

    (1984)
  • L. Wolpert

    Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation

    J. Theor. Biol

    (1969)
  • E.G. Conklin

    Mosaic development in ascidian eggs

    J. Exp. Zool

    (1905)
  • E.G. Conklin

    The organization and cell-lineage of the ascidian egg

    J. Acad. Natl. Sci. (Phila.)

    (1905)
  • J. Cooke et al.

    Dynamics of the control of body pattern in the development of Xenopus laevis. I. Timing and pattern in the development of dorsoanterior and posterior blastomere pairs, isolated at the 4-cell stage

    J. Embryol. Exp. Morphol

    (1985)
  • E.H. Davidson

    Gene Activity in Early Development

    (1976)
  • G.P. DuShane

    Neural fold derivatives in the amphibia: Pigment cells, spinal ganglia and Rohon-Beard cells

    J. Exp. Zool

    (1938)
  • Cited by (333)

    • The Fovea: Structure, Function, Development, and Tractional Disorders

      2021, The Fovea: Structure, Function, Development, and Tractional Disorders
    • Mass spectrometry based proteomics for developmental neurobiology in the amphibian Xenopus laevis

      2021, Current Topics in Developmental Biology
      Citation Excerpt :

      In Xenopus, pigmentation and stereotypical cell divisions permit ready identification and manipulation of cells. Reproducible fate maps are available for embryos at the 16- (Moody, 1987a, 1987b) and 32-cell (Dale & Slack, 1987) stage. We have integrated this information with ultrasensitive HRMS to peer into proteomes of neural, epidermal, or hindgut fated single cells and cell clones in 4–128-cell embryos (Lombard-Banek et al., 2021; Lombard-Banek, Moody, & Nemes, 2016).

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This work has been supported by NINCDS Grants NS20604 and NS23158.

    1

    The author is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.

    View full text