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Variability of an early developmental cell population underlies stochastic laterality defects

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Item Type:Article
Title:Variability of an early developmental cell population underlies stochastic laterality defects
Creators Name:Moreno-Ayala, R., Olivares-Chauvet, P., Schäfer, R. and Junker, J.P.
Abstract:Embryonic development seemingly proceeds with almost perfect precision. However, it is largely unknown how much underlying microscopic variability is compatible with normal development. Here, we quantify embryo-to-embryo variability in vertebrate development by studying cell number variation in the zebrafish endoderm. We notice that the size of a sub-population of the endoderm, the dorsal forerunner cells (DFCs, which later form the left-right organizer), exhibits significantly more embryo-to-embryo variation than the rest of the endoderm. We find that, with incubation of the embryos at elevated temperature, the frequency of left-right laterality defects is increased drastically in embryos with a low number of DFCs. Furthermore, we observe that these fluctuations have a large stochastic component among fish of the same genetic background. Hence, a stochastic variation in early development leads to a remarkably strong macroscopic phenotype. These fluctuations appear to be associated with maternal effects in the specification of the DFCs.
Keywords:Early Development, Phenotypic Variability, Dorsal Forerunner Cells, Left-Right Asymmetry, Heart Laterality, Maternal Effects, Animals, Zebrafish
Source:Cell Reports
ISSN:2211-1247
Publisher:Cell Press / Elsevier
Volume:34
Number:2
Page Range:108606
Date:12 January 2021
Official Publication:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108606
PubMed:View item in PubMed

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