Lecture 5 - Mechanism of Differentiation Flashcards
different types of specification of cell fate
- autonomous specification
- conditional specification
- syncytial specification
process of cell differentiation from zygote
- zygote
- multicellular organism (differentiated cells)
- vertebrate body plan: antero-posterior, dorso-ventral
changes in cellular biochemistr and function are preceded by a process resulting in the __ of the cell to a certain fate
commitment
Stages of Commitment
- specification
- determination
- differentiation
- cell is capable of differentiating autonomously when placed in neutral environment
- fate of the cell is specified early on but the cell fate is still reversible
specification
- cell differentiates autonomously even if placed in another region of the embryo
- cell fate is irreversible or fixed
determination
generation of specialized cell types
differentiation
- the cell “knows” what it is to become very early and without interacting with other cells
- blastomere inherits a set of transcription factors from the egg cytoplasm
- regulate gene expression, directing the cell into a particular path of development
autonomous specification
where does the blastomere inherit a set of transcription factors in autonomous specification
egg cytoplasm
transcription factors or their mRNAs that will influence the cell’s development
morphogenic determinants
blastomeres that acquire this region will give rise to muscle cells
macho
example of autonomous specification
tail muscles of tunicates form autonomously by acquiring the mRNA for a transcription factor from the egg cytoplasm
- ability of cells to achieve their respective fates by interacting with other cells
- what a cell becomes is in large measure specified by paracrine factors secreted by its neighbors
conditional specification
what specifies the fate of a cell in conditional specification
paracrine factors secreted by neighboring cells
- first testable model of cell specification proposed by August Weismann in 1888
- each cell of the embryo would develop autonomously
- proposed that the sperm an egg provided equal chromosomal contributions, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to the new organism
Germ Plasm Theory
proposed the Germ Plasm Theory
August Weismann 1888
what is the Germ Plasm Theory about
- only germ cells contained all the inherited determinants
- somatic cells were each thought to contain a subset of the determinants - type of determinant will determine its differentiated type
used a hot needle to kill one of the cells i a 2-cell frog embro (only the right of left half of a larva developed)
Wilhelm Roux
what did Roux do
- destroy one cell of a 2-cell from embryo
- resulted in development of only one half of the embryo
- did isolateion experiments
- each of the blastomeres from a 2-cell embryo - complete larva
- each isolated blastomere regulated its development to produce a complete organism
Hans Dreisch
what did Hans Dreisch do
- isolation experiments
- each isolated blastomere regulated its development to produce a complete organism
another experiment of Dreisch
pressure-plate experiment alter distribution of nuclei
- diffusable biochemical molecule that can determine the fate of a cell by its concentration
- cells exposed to high levels activate different genes than those cells exposed to lower levels
morphogen
cytoplasm that contains many nuclei
syncytium