Size-reduced embryos reveal a gradient scaling-based mechanism for zebrafish somite formation

Development
Kana IshimatsuSean G Megason

Abstract

Little is known about how the sizes of animal tissues are controlled. A prominent example is somite size, which varies widely both within an individual and across species. Despite intense study of the segmentation clock governing the timing of somite generation, how it relates to somite size is poorly understood. Here, we examine somite scaling and find that somite size at specification scales with the length of the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) despite considerable variation in PSM length across developmental stages and in surgically size-reduced embryos. Measurement of clock period, axis elongation speed and clock gene expression patterns demonstrate that existing models fail to explain scaling. We posit a 'clock and scaled gradient' model, in which somite boundaries are set by a dynamically scaling signaling gradient across the PSM. Our model not only explains existing data, but also makes a unique prediction that we confirm experimentally - the formation of periodic 'echoes' in somite size following perturbation of the size of one somite. Our findings demonstrate that gradient scaling plays a central role in both progression and size control of somitogenesis.

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Citations

Nov 22, 2018·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Philip J Bergmann, Gen Morinaga
Nov 9, 2019·Developmental Dynamics : an Official Publication of the American Association of Anatomists·Emmanuelle Grall, Patrick Tschopp
Sep 19, 2019·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Jonas S JuulSandeep Krishna
Feb 29, 2020·Development, Growth & Differentiation·Honda Naoki, Takaaki Matsui
Aug 25, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Néstor Saiz, Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis
Dec 22, 2019·Development·Daniel Čapek, Patrick Müller
Jun 1, 2021·Interface Focus·Erik Clark
Aug 3, 2021·Development·Akinobu NakamuraKazuhiro Aoki
Dec 14, 2021·Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology·Marta Linde-Medina, Theodoor H Smit

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