Abstract

This survey focuses on early or primitive developmental phenomena for which the location of a steady high calcium region or the direction of a calcium wave is critical and calcium is more than a trigger. It starts with the long studied roles of calcium in fucoid eggs and in Dictyostelium and progresses to newer work on high calcium regions in medaka fish, zebrafish, and Drosophila eggs. It then proposes that propagated, ultraslow developmental waves in six diverse systems indicate a new and important class of calcium waves. These include the morphogenetic furrow in Drosophila eye discs, floret formation in sunflowers, DNA replication waves in protozoan macronuclei, growth-cone like waves in hippocampal neurons, and two others. It then considers the possible organizing roles of slow calcium waves. Here, it emphasizes surface contractile waves during primary neural induction and elsewhere as well as the possibility of cellular peristalsis. Finally, it reviews the organizing roles of fast calcium waves in ascidian eggs.

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