Role of phospholipase Cgamma at fertilization and during mitosis in sea urchin eggs and embryos.

It is well known that stimulation of egg metabolism after fertilization is due to a rise in intracellular free calcium concentration. In sea urchin eggs, this first calcium signal is followed by other calcium transients that allow progression through mitotic control points of the cell cycle of the early embryo. How sperm induces these calcium transients is still far from being understood.

GSK3beta/shaggy mediates patterning along the animal-vegetal axis of the sea urchin embryo.

In the sea urchin embryo, the animal-vegetal axis is defined before fertilization and different embryonic territories are established along this axis by mechanisms which are largely unknown. Significantly, the boundaries of these territories can be shifted by treatment with various reagents including zinc and lithium. We have isolated and characterized a sea urchin homolog of GSK3beta/shaggy, a lithium-sensitive kinase which is a component of the Wnt pathway and known to be involved in axial patterning in other embryos including Xenopus.

Organization of the proximal promoter of the hatching-enzyme gene, the earliest zygotic gene expressed in the sea urchin embryo.

The hatching enzyme (HE) gene is the earliest zygotic gene expressed in the sea urchin embryo. To investigate the regulation of the HE gene activity, 5' flanking DNA and the 5' untranslated leader were inserted upstream of reporter genes whose expression was monitored in vivo during development after transfer into eggs. By deletion analysis we showed that no more than 3 kb of flanking sequence are required for correct expression of transgenes.

Early gene expression along the animal-vegetal axis in sea urchin embryoids and grafted embryos.

The HE gene is the earliest strictly zygotic gene activated during sea urchin embryogenesis. It is transiently expressed in a radially symmetrical domain covering the animal-most two-thirds of the blastula. The border of this domain, which is orthogonal to the primordial animal-vegetal axis, is shifted towards the animal pole in Li+-treated embryos.