Gastrulation, (Greek = belly) means the formation of gut, but has been used in a more looser sense to to describe the formation of the trilaminar embryo. The epiblast layer, consisting of totipotential cells, derives all 3 embryo layers: endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm. The primitive streak is the visible feature which represents the site of cell migration to form the additional layers. Historically, gastrulation was one of the earliest observable morphological event occurring in the frog embryo. Currently, the molecular and physical mechanisms that regulate patterning and migration during this key event are being investigated in several different animal models. In humans, it is proposed that similar mechanisms regulate gastrulation to those found in other vertebrates. |
Human embryonic disc (Stage 7) showing the primitive streak. |
In the frog, the transcription factors (mixer, and sox 17a and b) appear to determine endodermal cell fate (Henry and Melton, 1998; Hudson et al., 1997).
In the chicken, mesodermal cells depending on the rostrocaudal position move at different rates away from the primitive streak.
The induction of endoderm appears to be patterned by FGF4 signals from adjacent ectoderm and mesoderm within the primitive streak. (Wells & Melton, 1999).
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Related Pages: Trilaminar Embryo | Developmental Mechanisms | Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition | Molecular Development | Abnormalities
Nakaya Y, Sukowati EW, Wu Y, Sheng G. RhoA and microtubule dynamics control cell-basement membrane interaction in EMT during gastrulation. Nat Cell Biol. 2008 Jun 15.
Yao S, Xie L, Qian M, Yang H, Zhou L, Zhou Q, Yan F, Gou L, Wei Y, Zhao X, Mo X. Pnas4 is a novel regulator for convergence and extension during vertebrate gastrulation. FEBS Lett. 2008 Jun 25;582(15):2325-32.
Sweetman D, Wagstaff L, Cooper O, Weijer C, Munsterberg A. The migration of paraxial and lateral plate mesoderm cells emerging from the late primitive streak is controlled by different Wnt signals. BMC Dev Biol. 2008 Jun 9;8(1):63.
Güney M, Erdemoglu E, Oral B, Karahan N, Mungan T. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is immunohistochemically localized in tubal ectopic pregnancy. Acta Histochem. 2008 Feb 6;
Alisch RS, Jin P, Epstein M, Caspary T, Warren ST. Argonaute2 is essential for mammalian gastrulation and proper mesoderm formation. PLoS Genet. 2007 Dec 28;3(12):e227.
Gastrulation Evolution Marcellini S. When Brachyury meets Smad1: the evolution of bilateral symmetry during gastrulation. Bioessays. 2006 Apr;28(4):413-20.
Gastrulation Cell Migration Keller R. Cell migration during gastrulation. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2005 Oct;17(5):533-41. Review.
Gastrulation Genes Wallingford JB. Vertebrate gastrulation: polarity genes control the matrix. Curr Biol. 2005 Jun 7;15(11):R414-6. Review.
Nature Cell Migration Gateway a comprehensive and regularly updated resource for anyone interested in cell migration.
UNSW Embryology Morphodynamics biomechanical effects involved in development.
Links: Journals | Online Textbooks | Search Textbooks | Reviews | 1999 Refs | Search PubMed | Glossary
Book: Gastrulation: From Cells to Embryo
Nature Cell Migration Gateway a comprehensive and regularly updated resource for anyone interested in cell migration.
Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th ed.) Alberts, Bruce; Johnson, Alexander; Lewis, Julian; Raff, Martin; Roberts, Keith; Walter, Peter. New York: Garland Publishing (c2002)
Image: A current view of inductive signals organizing gastrulation in frog | Gastrulation in Xenopus | Gastrulation in Sea urchin
Developmental Biology (6th ed.) Gilbert (c2000)
Gastrulation of the Avian Embryo | Gastrulation in the Worm | Gastrulation in Fish | The primitive streak
Search NLM Online Textbooks- "gastrulation" : Developmental Biology | Molecular Biology of the Cell | The Cell- A molecular Approach
Reviews
von Dassow M, Davidson LA. Variation and robustness of the mechanics of gastrulation: the role of tissue mechanical properties during morphogenesis. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. 2007 Dec;81(4):253-69.
Rohde LA, Heisenberg CP. Zebrafish gastrulation: cell movements, signals, and mechanisms. Int Rev Cytol. 2007;261:159-92.
Kodaman PH, Taylor HS Hormonal regulation of implantation. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2004 Dec;31(4):745-66, ix.
Chisholm AD. Gastrulation: Wnts signal constriction. Curr Biol. 2006 Oct 24;16(20):R874-6.
Solnica-Krezel L. Gastrulation in zebrafish -- all just about adhesion? Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2006 Aug;16(4):433-41.
Marcellini S. When Brachyury meets Smad1: the evolution of bilateral symmetry during gastrulation. Bioessays. 2006 Apr;28(4):413-20.
Keller R. Cell migration during gastrulation. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2005 Oct;17(5):533-41. Review.
Nance J, Lee JY, Goldstein B. Gastrulation in C. elegans. WormBook. 2005 Sep 26:1-13.
Wallingford JB. Vertebrate gastrulation: polarity genes control the matrix. Curr Biol. 2005 Jun 7;15(11):R414-6. Review.
Wells JM, Melton DA. Vertebrate endoderm development. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 1999;15:393-410.
Articles
Zamir EA, Czirok A, Cui C, Little CD, Rongish BJ. Mesodermal cell displacements during avian gastrulation are due to both individual cell-autonomous and convective tissue movements. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Dec 26;103(52):19806-11. Epub 2006 Dec 18. PNAS Link
Wells JM, Melton DA. Early mouse endoderm is patterned by soluble factors from adjacent germ layers. Development. 2000 Apr;127(8):1563-72.
Search PubMed
Search Jan2007 "gastrulation" 3,549 reference articles of which 366 were reviews.
Search PubMed: term= gastrulation+development
Selected Research Articles and Reviews (1999) Primitive Streak
Induction of Endoderm
Early mouse endoderm is patterned by soluble factors from adjacent germ layers James M. Wells and Douglas A. Melton Development 127, 1563-1572 (2000)
FGF4 expressed in primitive streak-mesoderm induces the differentiation of endoderm in a concentration-dependent manner. The differentiation of gastrulation-stage endoderm is directed by adjacent mesoderm and ectoderm, one of the earliest reported patterning events in formation of the vertebrate gut tube.
Endoderm that forms the respiratory and digestive tracts is a sheet of approximately 500-1000 cells around the distalcup of an E7.5 mouse embryo. Within 2 days, endoderm folds into a primitive gut tube from which numerous organs will bud.
This study used an in vitro assay system to demonstrate the soluble inducing signal. Germ layer explants show that adjacent germ layers provide soluble, temporally specific signals that induce organ-specific gene expression in endoderm.
Expression of Fgf4 during early development of the chick embryo. Shamim H, Mason I Mech Dev 1999 Jul 1;85(1-2):189-192
Fibroblast growth factor 4 (Fgf4) has been implicated as a regulator of mesoderm formation, posteriorisation, neural induction and neural patterning. Much of the evidence for this derives from studies in which exogenous FGF4 is applied to avian embryos. We have therefore examined expression of endogenous Fgf4 mRNA in the developing chick embryo at stages when these processes are occurring. Expression was detected in the primitive streak from the onset of gastrulation. Notably, transient expression of transcripts was found in head process cells at the onset of neural plate formation and regionalisation. Later, mRNA was detected in the presumptive posterior hindbrain and within the ventral midbrain. Fgf4 mRNA was also found in paraxial mesoderm underlying the posterior hindbrain, somites, branchial arches, limb buds and the tail bud.
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Week 3 in the human is about gastrulation (trilaminar embryo development) and placentation (early).
Gastrulation in animal models such as fly, frog, chicken and more recently zebrafish has been extensively studied. This process establishes more than the gut, for which it is named, it generates the three layers of the embryo restricts the future potential of cells within each layer to a specific cell/tissue type.
Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.
