The Location of Dorsal Information in Frog Early Development

Abstract

Dorsal information is necessary for the development of the dorsal axial structures which characterize the vertebrates. The nature of dorsal information in early embryos is not known, but its presence is required for the formation of dorsal mesoderm with Spermann organizer activity. In frogs, the dorsoventral axis is specified by a cortical/cytoplasmic rotation in the egg shortly after fertilization, and this dorsal information is limited to a few cells in the equatorial and vegetal region of early cleavage embryos. At the 8‐cell stage, 2–4 cells can promote dorsal development, and at the 32‐cell stage, 4–6 cells have dorsal information. Recent experiments have shown that growth factors can induce cells to form dorsal mesoderm and that lithium can act in those cells to enhance the induction. It will be important to determine the relationship between the location of dorsal information defined embryologically and factors involved in the development of dorsal mesoderm.