Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:1.10.3.1 (tyrosinase)
 9,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Anural development in the ascidian Molgula occulta was examined using tissue-specific markers and interspecific hybridization. Unlike most ascidians, which develop into a swimming tadpole larva (urodele development), M. occulta eggs develop into a tailless slug-like larva (anural development) which metamorphoses into an adult. M. occulta embryos show conventional early cleavage patterns, gastrulation, and neurulation, but then diverge from the urodele developmental mode during larval morphogenesis. M. occulta larvae do not contain a pigmented sensory cell in their brain or form a tail with differentiated notochord and muscle cells. As shown by in situ hybridization with cloned probes and analysis of in vitro translation products, M. occulta embryos do not accumulate high levels of alpha actin or myosin heavy chain mRNA. In contrast, acetylcholinesterase is expressed in muscle lineage cells, indicating that various muscle cell features are differentially suppressed. M. occulta embryos also lack tyrosinase activity, suggesting that suppression of brain pigment cell differentiation occurs at an early step in development. M. occulta eggs fertilized with sperm from Molgula oculata (a closely related urodele species) develop into hybrid larvae exhibiting some of the missing urodele features. Some hybrid embryos develop tyrosinase activity and differentiate a brain pigment cell and a short row of notochord cells, and form a short tail. These urodele features appeared together or separately in different hybrid embryos suggesting that they develop by independent mechanisms. In contrast, alpha actin and myosin heavy chain mRNA accumulation was not enhanced in hybrid embryos. These results suggest that multiple mechanisms control anural development.
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PMID:Interspecific hybridization between an anural and urodele ascidian: differential expression of urodele features suggests multiple mechanisms control anural development. 212 92

The effect of ultraviolet (uv) light on embryonic development was examined in the ascidian Styela clava. uv irradiation (3.0 x 10(-3) J mm-2) of the entire surface of fertilized eggs during ooplasmic segregation prevented gastrulation, sensory cell induction, and embryonic axis formation. The uv-irradiated embryos completed ooplasmic segregation and cleaved normally, but vegetal blastomeres did not invaginate at the beginning of gastrulation, sensory cells in the larval brain did not develop tyrosinase or melanin pigment, and the larval tail did not develop. Endoderm, epidermis, and muscle cells differentiated in the uv-irradiated embryos, however, as evidenced by expression of endodermal alkaline phosphatase (AP), an epidermal-specific antigen, and alpha-actin, myosin heavy chain, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in muscle cells. Higher doses of uv light (6.0-9.0 x 10(-3) J mm-2) suppressed expression of the epidermal antigen and muscle cell markers, whereas the development of endodermal AP was insensitive. Irradiation at various times between fertilization and the 16-cell stage revealed that gastrulation, sensory cell differentiation, and axis formation are sensitive to uv light only during ooplasmic segregation. Irradiation of restricted regions of the zygote during ooplasmic segregation showed that the uv-sensitive components are localized in the vegetal hemisphere. The absorption characteristics of the uv-sensitive components suggest that they are nucleic acids. The results show that uv-sensitive components that specify gastrulation, sensory cell induction, and embryonic axis formation are localized in the vegetal hemisphere of Styela eggs.
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PMID:Ultraviolet irradiation during ooplasmic segregation prevents gastrulation, sensory cell induction, and axis formation in the ascidian embryo. 237 59