Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 119, Issue 2, February 1987, Pages 560-578
Developmental Biology

Full paper
Fates of the blastomeres of the 16-cell stage Xenopus embryo

https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-1606(87)90059-5Get rights and content

Abstract

The fate of the blastomeres in the 16-cell stage Xenopus embryo which had been carefully selected for stereotypic cleavages was determined by intracellularly marking a single blastomere with horseradish peroxidase and identifying the labeled progeny in the tailbud embryo by histochemistry. Each blastomere populated all three primary germ layers. The progeny of each blastomere were distributed characteristically both in phenotype and in location. For example, most organs were populated by the descendants of particular sets of blastomeres. Furthermore, within an organ the progeny of a single blastomere were restricted to defined spatial addresses. This study describes the fates of identified 16-cell stage blastomeres and demonstrates that they are distinct and predictable if embryos are preselected for stereotypic cleavages.

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    This work was supported by NINCDS Grants NS20604 and NS23158.

    1

    S.A.M. is a Sloan Foundation Research Fellow.

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