Characterization of the finch embryo supports evolutionary conservation of the naive stage of development in amniotes

  1. Siu-Shan Mak
  2. Cantas Alev
  3. Hiroki Nagai
  4. Anna Wrabel
  5. Yoko Matsuoka
  6. Akira Honda
  7. Guojun Sheng  Is a corresponding author
  8. Raj K Ladher  Is a corresponding author
  1. RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan
  2. National Center for Biological Sciences, India
7 figures and 1 additional file

Figures

Morphology of the finch blastoderm at oviposition.

(AC) Finch embryos were sectioned after Hhex in situ hybridization to reveal the morphology of the blastoderm. At EGK-VI the blastoderm is thick, with no sign of epithelialization, and does not …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.003
Molecular characterization of the finch blastoderm at oviposition.

(AD) Whole-mount staining of EGK-VIII finch embryos of the distribution of putative germ cell markers SSEA-1 (A, B) and epithelial membrane antigen 1 (EMA-1) (C, D) showing views from the vitelline …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.004
Expression of pluripotent markers in the finch embryo at oviposition.

(A) Comparison of the NANOG (N) and NANOG-LIKE (nl) homeodomains (HD) from chick and the finch compared to the NANOG HD from human, mouse, rat, and zebrafish, together with percentage identity to …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.005
Q-PCR characterization of finch and chick blastoderm at oviposition reveals fundamental molecular differences.

Quantitative-PCR was used to assess the differences in gene expression between finch (green bars) and chick (red bars) embryos at oviposition. The markers used were associated with general …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.006
Q-PCR characterization of finch blastoderms at oviposition and aged to EGK-X.

Quantitative-PCR was used to assess the differences in gene expression between finch blastoderms at laying (green bars) and aged to EGK-X, equivalent to chick oviposition (blue bars). The markers …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.007
Finch blastodermal cell cultures retain markers of pluripotency even in the presence of MEK inhibitor.

Finch and chick embryos at oviposition were dissociated and cultured in the presence of LIF and the MEK inhibitor, PD0325901, for 4 days. (AC) Finch blastodermal cells form aggregates (red arrows) …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.008
Putative conservation of the naive stage during amniote embryogenesis.

Similar to mouse pre-implantation embryos (around E4), prior to epiblast epithelialisation, zebra finch embryos at oviposition are at early–mid-blastula stages (EGK-VI/VIII) show no overt …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.009

Additional files

Supplementary file 1

(A) Details of primers that were used for generating in situ hybridization riboprobes for the zebra finch. (B) Details of primers that were used for quantitative PCR.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07178.010

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