Spiral waves and vertebrate embryonic handedness

• Published in: Journal of biosciences Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 375 - 390
• Main Authors: Durston, Antony J, Peres, João, Cohen, Morrel H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-06-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal embryos; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Body Patterning - genetics; Cell Biology; DELTA protein; Embryogenesis; Embryonic development; Embryonic Development - genetics; Embryonic growth stage; Embryos; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Handedness; Life Sciences; Mesoderm; Mesoderm - growth & development; Microbiology; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Oscillatory waves; Plant Sciences; Somites; Somites - growth & development; Somitogenesis; Spirals; Vertebrates; Xenopus laevis - genetics; Xenopus laevis - growth & development; Xenopus Proteins - genetics; Zoology; left–right asymmetry; Delta-notch signalling; spiral somitogenesis waves; vertebrate somitogenesis; handedness
• ISSN: 0250-5991; 0973-7138
• DOI: 10.1007/s12038-018-9756-3

During early embryonic development, the vertebrate main body axis is segmented from head-to-tail into somites. Somites emerge sequentially from the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) as a consequence of oscillatory waves of genetic activity, called somitogenesis waves. Here, we discuss the implications of the dynamic patterns of early
X-Delta-2
expression in the prospective somites (somitomeres) of
Xenopus laevis
. We report that right somitomeres normally emerge before left to form chiral structures (i.e. structures having clockwise or counter-clockwise handedness). From our observations, we infer that somitogenesis waves are normally counter-clockwise spirals, a novel dynamic mechanism for the control of handedness development in
Xenopus
. We propose that the same mechanism could control handedness development in
all
vertebrate embryos, providing a dynamical basis for the current asymmetric molecular transport model for generating left–right asymmetry.