Abstract
VegT is a T-box transcription factor whose mRNA is synthesized during oogenesis and localized in the vegetal hemisphere of the egg and early embryo. We show that maternally expressed VegT controls the pattern of primary germ layer specification in Xenopus embryos. Reduction of the maternal store completely alters the fates of different regions of the blastula so that animal cell fate is changed from epidermis and nervous system to epidermis only, equatorial cell fate is changed from mesoderm to ectoderm, and vegetal cell fate is changed from endoderm to mesoderm and ectoderm. Vegetal cells lose their capacity both to form endoderm and to release mesoderm-inducing signals. These results show that a single maternally expressed gene controls the patterning of the Xenopus blastula.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 515-524 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Cell |
| Volume | 94 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 21 1998 |
Funding
We are grateful to the NIH (grant number 1 HD33002 to J. H. and GM33932 to M. L. K.), the Institute of Human Genetics, and the Harrison Fund for financing this work. Thanks also to Matt Kofron for help with the figures, and to Drs. H. Woodland, P. Lemaire, A. Hemmati-Brivanlou, and E. DeRobertis for supplying clones. The expert technical assistance of Mr. Elio Dancausse is gratefully acknowledged.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology