Left-right asymmetry in the sea urchin

Summary The sea urchin is a penta‐radial marine invertebrate of the phylum Echinodermata, yet sea urchins develop initially as bilaterally symmetric embryos and become penta‐radial secondarily during development of the adult. Late in embryogenesis indirectly developing larvae produce molecular asymm...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) N.Y. : 2000), 2014-06, Vol.52 (6), p.481-487
Main Authors: Warner, Jacob F., McClay, David R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
BMP
Bone morphogenetic proteins
Broken symmetry
echinoderm
Echinodermata
Echinoidea
Embryogenesis
Embryonic growth stage
Embryos
Invertebrates
Larvae
Marine
Metamorphosis
nodal
notch
Sea urchins
Signaling
Symmetry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary The sea urchin is a penta‐radial marine invertebrate of the phylum Echinodermata, yet sea urchins develop initially as bilaterally symmetric embryos and become penta‐radial secondarily during development of the adult. Late in embryogenesis indirectly developing larvae produce molecular asymmetries that dictate the positioning and formation of the adult rudiment on the left side. The rudiment gives rise to the radially symmetric adult during metamorphosis. The mechanism of left–right (L–R) establishment in sea urchin involves highly conserved signaling pathways including Nodal, BMP, Notch, and perhaps Hedgehog. Thus, L–R symmetry‐breaking in the sea urchin appears to utilize a mechanism that is conserved among deuterostomes. At the same time establishment of L–R symmetry in the sea urchin deploys a number of features that are mechanistically unique. Here we review this mechanism and the uncertainties that remain. genesis 52:481–487, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ISSN:1526-954X
1526-968X
DOI:10.1002/dvg.22752