Desynchronizing cell division waves in the xenopus laevis embryo with temperature gradients
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Developing animal embryos have fascinated scientists for centuries. Their morphology and dynamic behaviors are some of the most beautiful phenomena in all of biology, and their task of converting a single cell into a functional animal seems miraculous. This dissertation is an effort to understand the early embryonic cell division patterns that appear in diverse animal embryos using the frog Xenopus laevis as a model for embryogenesis. We characterized the timing and geometry of multiple waves that move throughout the embryo. By using a temperature gradient to perturb endogenous cell division timing, we found that these dazzling waves are caused by a simple and autonomous mechanism: the variance of intrinsic cell cycle period along the embryonic axes. Again using a temperature gradient, we found that relative cell division synchrony before the mid-blastula transition is required for normal mesodermal induction. Amazingly, desynchronized embryos with mesoderm induction defects go on to become healthy tadpoles. This suggests the existence of a previously unknown synchronizing mechanism during the developmental process of involution. The early X. laevis embryo is at once simple in its design, yet robust to perturbation. We hope others use this dissertation to aid in further understanding of the dynamic processes of early animal embryos.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Anderson, Graham A |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Chemical and Systems Biology. |
| Primary advisor | Ferrell, James Ellsworth |
| Thesis advisor | Ferrell, James Ellsworth |
| Thesis advisor | Huang, Kerwyn Casey, 1979- |
| Thesis advisor | Meyer, Tobias |
| Advisor | Baker, Julie, (Professor of genetics) |
| Advisor | Huang, Kerwyn Casey, 1979- |
| Advisor | Meyer, Tobias |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Graham A. Anderson. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Graham Arthur Anderson
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...