Journal
DEVELOPMENT
Volume 148, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/dev.180760
Keywords
Echinoderm; Biomineralization; Regulatory networks; Signalling; Vegf
Categories
Funding
- KVA fund from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences [SL2015-0048]
- EU [227799]
- Wellcome Trust [099745/Z/12/Z]
- Systems Biology University College London studentship
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Forderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung grant [150654]
- University College London
- Wellcome Trust [099745/Z/12/Z] Funding Source: Wellcome Trust
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The study highlights the crucial role of the FGF signaling pathway in skeletogenesis and regeneration in brittle stars. Disruption of the FGF signaling pathway inhibits skeleton formation without affecting other key developmental processes. Differential transcriptome analysis reveals downregulation of differentiation genes rather than transcription factors, and the discovery of brittle star-specific differentiation genes through comparative gene analysis.
Regeneration as an adult developmental process is in many aspects similar to embryonic development. Although many studies point out similarities and differences, no large-scale, direct and functional comparative analyses between development and regeneration of a specific cell type or structure in one animal exist. Here, we use the brittle star Amphiura filiformis to characterise the role of the FGF signalling pathway during skeletal development in embryos and arm regeneration. In both processes, we find ligands expressed in ectodermal cells that flank underlying skeletal mesenchymal cells, which express the receptors. Perturbation of FGF signalling showed inhibited skeleton formation in both embryogenesis and regeneration, without affecting other key developmental processes. Differential transcriptome analysis finds mostly differentiation genes rather than transcription factors to be downregulated in both contexts. Moreover, comparative gene analysis allowed us to discover brittle star-specific differentiation genes. In conclusion, our results show that the FGF pathway is crucial for skeletogenesis in the brittle star, as in other deuterostomes, and provide evidence for the re-deployment of a developmental gene regulatory module during regeneration.
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