Analysis of gastrulation: different types of gastrulation movement are induced by different mesoderm-inducing factors in Xenopus laevis

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the control of gastrulation in Xenopus laevis. Our approach takes advantage of the observation that mesoderm-inducing factors such as activin, FGF and BMP-4 induce presumptive ectodermal cells to undergo gastrulation-like movements. Activin, for example, makes intact animal pole regions undergo convergent extension and causes individual cells to spread and migrate on a fibronectin-coated substrate. By varying the concentrations of the growth factors to which animal pole cells are exposed, and by applying them in different combinations, we show how graded distributions of a combination of factors could establish the correct spatial and temporal patterns of gastrulation in the Xenopus embryo. The distributions we propose support and develop the model previously suggested by Green et al. (1992) to account for the spatial patterns of gene activation in the early embryo.