Durch Zeitrafferananlysen mittels MRI und konfokaler Mikroskopie sollen Zellbewegungen während der Blastula und Gastrula in wildtypischen und experimentell manipulierten Embryonen von Xenopus laevis beobachtet werden

• Applicant: Dr. Cyrus Papan
• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 1999 to 2002
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5207642

During gastrulation, vertebrate as well as invertebrate embryos undergo profound changes in their cellular arrangement to form the germ layers. In Xenopus laevis the Spemann-Organizer, a tissue located at the dorsal marginal zone of the Xenopus blastula, governs this morphogenetic process and directs the patterning of the surrounding tissue. It consists of mesendodermal precursor cells that involute during gastrulation. Upon transplantation it is capable of inducing a secondary axis. Over the last years, a large number of genes found to be expressed specifically in this embryonic region. The tremendous advances in the molecular biology of the Spemann oranizer make it critical to better understand the cellular context in which these molecules work. With the proposed study three questions will be addressed: what are the exact morphogenetic movements in gastrulation; how do the involuting and noninvoluting cells interact; how is gene expression within the oranizer related to the fate and morphogenetic behavior of the organizer cells; how do host cells respond when they are exposed to transplanted organizer tissue. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or confocal microscopy either alone or in conjunction with in situ-hybridization will be used to track the movements and fates of labeled cells in time lapse analysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA