Development Flashcards
Human Developmental Stages
Zygote-> Morula-> Blastocyst-> Gastrulation-> Embryo-> Fetus-> Adult-> gametes*
Zygote
fertilized egg
1 - 8 cell stage
totipotent; removal of 1 or 2 cells at 8 cell stage still results in an entire organism
Morula
16 – early 32 cells; stage before fluid filled cavity forms, inner 8 cells are pluripotent
Blastocyst
early embryo with fluid filled cavity that forms at the 32-cell stage
Inner cell mass (ICM)
pluripotent; source of embryonic stem cells
Trophoblast
forms the embryonic portion of the placenta
Gastrulation
first massive cell movements
Germ Layers
endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm
Embryo
week 1-8; cell division, cell migration and organ development
Fetus
9 weeks until birth; size increase & organ refinement
Stages of Commitment to Cell Fate
- Specification – fate is still reversible 2. Determination – fate is no longer reversible 3. Differentiation – overt changes in structure & function – looks like muscle & produces structural proteins necessary for function, e.g. muscle
Specification (vs. Determined)
if development proceeds normally, it will become the fate that tissue of the embryo normally becomes; if the environment changes, the cell fate can still be changed
Determined (vs. Specification)
the cell has activated transcription of the genes necessary for a particular fate; the cell will no longer change its fate regardless of the signals received from the environment
Three levels of transcriptional regulation:
- TFs 2. Histone Modifications 3. DNA methylation
TFs in the ICM vs Trophoblast
• Oct4 and Cdx2 are both on in all cells of the 8-cell stage • At the 16 cell stage, the 8 inner cells express Oct4 and the 8 outer cells express cdx2 • Oct4 and Cdx2 repress each other at the level of transcription • Oct4 maintains proliferation and inhibits differentiation in the inner cell mass (ICM)
Heart Differentiation
General: Totipotent–> Pluripotent-> Germ Layer—-> Field—–> Differentiated
Protein expressed
Example:
Heart: 8cell–>pluri–>Meso–> ♥ Field–>♥ Muscle
- Cdx2 8cell
- Oct4 8cell–>pluri
- Bry Meso
- **Nkx2.5 ** ♥ Field–>♥ Muscle
- **Myosin ** ♥ Muscle
- **CardiacActin ** ♥ Muscle
Master Regulatory Genes (MRGs)–
Transcription factors (TFs) that are master regulators of cell fate, they turn on all the genes necessary to confer a specific cell fate
Histone Modifications:
Phosphorylation
Phosphorylation closes chromatin, decreasing transcription, occurs every mitosis
Histone Modifications :
Acetlyation
Acetlyation opens chromatin, increasing transcription
Histone Modifications :
Methylation
increases or decreases transcription depending on the amino acid methylated
- H3K4 methylation opens the chromatin, increasing transcription
- H3K27 methylation closes the chromatin, decreasing transcription
MRG expression regulated by histone methylation
MRGs are bivalently methylated on H3K4 and H3K27 in embryonic stem cells (ES cells), i.e. gene transcription levels are poised to go either way
ii. Nkx2.5 (MRG for heart) is methylated on H3K4 & H3K27 in ES cells, on H3K4 but not H3K27 in heart cells and on H3K27 but not H3K4 in lens cells
iii. Pax6 (MRG for the lens of the eye) is bivalently methylated in ES cells, methylated on H3K4 but not H3K27 in lens cells and methylated on H3K27 but not H3K4 in heart cells
Natural Sources of Stem Cells
i. Zygote until 8 cell stage – totipotent, small number of cells
ii. Inner Cell mass – pluripotent, when transferred to petri dish = ES cells; source for therapeutics
iii. Primordial Germ Cells – totipotent, not used frequently in research because of limited human supply, occur later in development than inner cell mass
iv. Adult Stem Cells – Multipotent, most common therapeutic use is for bone marrow transplant; includes umbilical cord which can be stored and used as a source of blood and associated tissues
Artificial (manipulated/created) stem cells
i. ES cells – ICM from in vitro fertilization treatments moved to petri dish and cultured with a specific set of growth factors and nutrients
ii. Cloning Dolly – somatic nuclear transfer
