Cell Fate and Cell Potential

Readings
y y Chapter 32, p. 925-926 (fate maps) Chapter 19, p. 426-429 (cell fate) and p.432-435 (stem cells), p. 437-439

Five processes that contribute to development:

y y y y y Determination: seals the fate of an embryonic cell Differentiation: the process by which different types of cell arise Patterning: defining the orientation of an embryo and its tissues Morphogenesis: the shaping of the body and its organs Growth: increase in size by cell division

What is the difference between a cell s fate and its potential?

Blastomeres that inherit the yellow crescent cytoplasm in the tunicate Styela partita are fated to become muscle cells.

Cell fate is a function of differential gene expression and morphogenesis.

Blastomeres that inherit the polar (P) granules are fated to become the germ cells in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Making a fate map in the zebrafish Danio rerio

Fate Maps
y Show the ultimate fate of embryonic cells o Identify what cell types, germ layers, tissues, or organs will form from particular blastomeres or groups of blastomeres.

Caenorhabditis elegans (p. 437-438)

The Ultimate Fate Map: C. elegans

y y y Two proteins from an anchor cell act as primary and secondary inducers of the vulva. The primary inducer activates gene 1 for differentiation from epidermis to vulva. The secondary inducer, which is in the primary vulval precursor cells, activates gene 2 for differentiation of a secondary precursor cell.

Induction
y y Much of development is controlled by molecular switches that allow a cell to proceed down one of two alternative tracks. In embryology, presence of one tissue influences development of others. Certain tissues, apparently have the potential to direct differentiation of adjacent cell. Absence of the inducing tissue results in lack of or improper development of the induced tissue.

The animal and vegetal halves of a sea urchin embryo differ in their developmental potential.

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An embryo bisected horizontally results in top cells remaining embryonic while the bottom cells result in abnormal larvae. If bisected vertically, two small, normal larvae result.

Cytoplasmic determinants are distributed unequally.

The cell divisions during cleavage repackage the cytoplasm, thus reinforcing any preexisting asymmetry. The sea urchin experiment can be understood in terms of the asymmetric distribution of cytoplasmic determinants.

The potential of embryonic cells can only be revealed experimentally

Cell potential is initially broader than cell fate

Cell potential is lost as development proceeds

Even at the two-cell stage, one cell may no longer be totipotent.

Mosaic vs. Regulative Development

y Mode of development depends on when blastomeres become determined. Many invertebrates develop by mosaic development: individual blastomeres are determined early (e.g. by the 8-cell stage). Some invertebrates and vertebrates have regulative development: blastomeres remain undetermined (at least through cleavage).

Stem Cells

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Stem cells retain their early potential throughout embryonic development and even into adulthood o Reservoirs of cellular diversity Self-renewal is a defining property of stem cells Embryonic stem cells are isolated from blastula stage embryos Embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into a variety of different specialized cell types

then used therapeutically