Wnt/β-catenin regulates an ancient signaling network during zebrafish scale development
Posted on: 26 April 2018
Preprint posted on 2 April 2018
Article now published in eLife at http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37001
Analysis of zebrafish scale development suggests a common ancient origin of the molecular machinery controlling the basic patterning of skin appendages in vertebrates.
Selected by Andreas van Impel
Categories: developmental biology, evolutionary biology
Background
During amniote development, the ectoderm gives rise to various characteristic skin appendages including hair, teeth, mammary and exocrine glands in mammals, feathers in birds and scales in reptiles. Despite the obvious differences in their final form and function, these distinct ectodermal appendages share common developmental features, leading to the idea that they are all evolutionary derived from a common ancestral progenitor in early amniotes. But might such appendages have deeper evolutionary origins? Outside of the amniotes, another type of skin appendage are the calcified scales of fish. Although the development of these scales has been shown to be sensitive to several players that are also involved in amniote ectoderm appendage formation, it is not clear at present whether teleost scales and amniote skin appendages are homologous structures that evolved from a common ancestor.
Key findings
In the current preprint, Aman and colleagues employ zebrafish larvae to investigate the genetic program involved in scale development. Since fish scales are characterized by a calcified composition, the authors hypothesized that osteoblast-like cells would be involved in their formation. Using transgenic reporter fish for the osteoblast marker sp7/osterix combined with Alizarin Red vital staining of calcified extracellular matrix, they identify sp7-positive cell clusters in the dermis at sites where the deposition of calcified matrix can be detected shortly after, and where ultimately a new scale will form. Making use of these live imaging tools, the authors show that similar to skin appendages in amniotes, the scale primordia are added in a sequential fashion giving rise to a tightly packed hexagonal grid within about 13 days (see figure).
In order to find out whether the signaling pathways involved in amniote skin appendage development are also required for scale formation, Aman et al. initially focus on Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, a pathway that has been shown to be essential for the induction of ectodermal appendages in amniotes. In line with such an early requirement, conditional blockage of Wnt signaling completely prevents scale initiation. Furthermore and again very similar to the situation in amniotes, the authors find that Eda, FGF and Hh signaling are all involved in different steps of scale development, suggesting that a common set of core signaling pathways is employed in all vertebrates during skin appendage development.
Why this is cool
What I like about this preprint from the Parichy lab is that it nicely combines zebrafish developmental biology with an evolutionary biology question. Their beautiful imaging of scale formation in vivo (see figure) not only indicates that the sequence of squamation in zebrafish resembles that of other fishes like medaka, but that it is strikingly similar to the ordered addition of feathers in chicken or the scale anlagen in reptiles. On the molecular level, Aman et al. identify a requirement for Wnt, Eda, Fgf and Hh signalling pathways and describe various interactions between those during scale induction and morphogenesis. Since the same regulatory network also controls skin appendage formation in amniotes, the results support the idea that the basic machinery controlling the patterning of skin appendages is conserved between extant vertebrates and originate already from a common pre-amniotic ancestor.
Further directions
Despite the obvious differences in the final output of ectodermal appendage formation in teleosts and amniotes, the apparent conservation of signalling events controlling the initiation, patterning and early morphogenesis of these appendages render the zebrafish – with all its advantages like the exceptional live cell imaging possibilities and the enormous toolbox for forward and reverse genetic approaches – a very attractive additional model system to further unravel the molecular control during vertebrate skin patterning.
Further reading
Biggs LC, Mikkola ML (2014) Early inductive events in ectodermal appendage morphogenesis. Semin Cell Dev Biol, Vol25-26: 11-21
Di-Poï N, Milinkovitch NC (2016) The anatomical placode in reptile scale morphogenesis indicates shared ancestry among skin appendages in amniotes. Sci Adv.; 2(6): e1600708
Harris MP, Rohner N, Schwarz H, Perathoner S, Konstantinidis P, Nüsslein-Volhard C. (2008) Zebrafish eda and edar mutants reveal conserved and ancestral roles of ectodysplasin signaling in vertebrates. PLoS Genet.; 4(10):e1000206
Read preprint
(No Ratings Yet)Sign up to customise the site to your preferences and to receive alerts
Register hereAlso in the developmental biology category:
Cellular signalling protrusions enable dynamic distant contacts in spinal cord neurogenesis
Ankita Walvekar
Actin-based deformations of the nucleus control multiciliated ependymal cell differentiation
Ryan Harrison
HIF1A contributes to the survival of aneuploid and mosaic pre-implantation embryos
Anchel De Jaime Soguero
Also in the evolutionary biology category:
Enhancer-driven cell type comparison reveals similarities between the mammalian and bird pallium
Rodrigo Senovilla-Ganzo
Modular control of time and space during vertebrate axis segmentation
AND
Natural genetic variation quantitatively regulates heart rate and dimension
Girish Kale, Jennifer Ann Black
Fetal brain response to maternal inflammation requires microglia
Manuel Lessi
preLists in the developmental biology category:
BSDB/GenSoc Spring Meeting 2024
A list of preprints highlighted at the British Society for Developmental Biology and Genetics Society joint Spring meeting 2024 at Warwick, UK.
| List by | Joyce Yu, Katherine Brown |
GfE/ DSDB meeting 2024
This preList highlights the preprints discussed at the 2024 joint German and Dutch developmental biology societies meeting that took place in March 2024 in Osnabrück, Germany.
| List by | Joyce Yu |
‘In preprints’ from Development 2022-2023
A list of the preprints featured in Development's 'In preprints' articles between 2022-2023
| List by | Alex Eve, Katherine Brown |
preLights peer support – preprints of interest
This is a preprint repository to organise the preprints and preLights covered through the 'preLights peer support' initiative.
| List by | preLights peer support |
The Society for Developmental Biology 82nd Annual Meeting
This preList is made up of the preprints discussed during the Society for Developmental Biology 82nd Annual Meeting that took place in Chicago in July 2023.
| List by | Joyce Yu, Katherine Brown |
CSHL 87th Symposium: Stem Cells
Preprints mentioned by speakers at the #CSHLsymp23
| List by | Alex Eve |
Journal of Cell Science meeting ‘Imaging Cell Dynamics’
This preList highlights the preprints discussed at the JCS meeting 'Imaging Cell Dynamics'. The meeting was held from 14 - 17 May 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal and was organised by Erika Holzbaur, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Rob Parton and Michael Way.
| List by | Helen Zenner |
9th International Symposium on the Biology of Vertebrate Sex Determination
This preList contains preprints discussed during the 9th International Symposium on the Biology of Vertebrate Sex Determination. This conference was held in Kona, Hawaii from April 17th to 21st 2023.
| List by | Martin Estermann |
Alumni picks – preLights 5th Birthday
This preList contains preprints that were picked and highlighted by preLights Alumni - an initiative that was set up to mark preLights 5th birthday. More entries will follow throughout February and March 2023.
| List by | Sergio Menchero et al. |
CellBio 2022 – An ASCB/EMBO Meeting
This preLists features preprints that were discussed and presented during the CellBio 2022 meeting in Washington, DC in December 2022.
| List by | Nadja Hümpfer et al. |
2nd Conference of the Visegrád Group Society for Developmental Biology
Preprints from the 2nd Conference of the Visegrád Group Society for Developmental Biology (2-5 September, 2021, Szeged, Hungary)
| List by | Nándor Lipták |
Fibroblasts
The advances in fibroblast biology preList explores the recent discoveries and preprints of the fibroblast world. Get ready to immerse yourself with this list created for fibroblasts aficionados and lovers, and beyond. Here, my goal is to include preprints of fibroblast biology, heterogeneity, fate, extracellular matrix, behavior, topography, single-cell atlases, spatial transcriptomics, and their matrix!
| List by | Osvaldo Contreras |
EMBL Synthetic Morphogenesis: From Gene Circuits to Tissue Architecture (2021)
A list of preprints mentioned at the #EESmorphoG virtual meeting in 2021.
| List by | Alex Eve |
EMBL Conference: From functional genomics to systems biology
Preprints presented at the virtual EMBL conference "from functional genomics and systems biology", 16-19 November 2020
| List by | Jesus Victorino |
Single Cell Biology 2020
A list of preprints mentioned at the Wellcome Genome Campus Single Cell Biology 2020 meeting.
| List by | Alex Eve |
Society for Developmental Biology 79th Annual Meeting
Preprints at SDB 2020
| List by | Irepan Salvador-Martinez, Martin Estermann |
FENS 2020
A collection of preprints presented during the virtual meeting of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) in 2020
| List by | Ana Dorrego-Rivas |
Planar Cell Polarity – PCP
This preList contains preprints about the latest findings on Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) in various model organisms at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels.
| List by | Ana Dorrego-Rivas |
Cell Polarity
Recent research from the field of cell polarity is summarized in this list of preprints. It comprises of studies focusing on various forms of cell polarity ranging from epithelial polarity, planar cell polarity to front-to-rear polarity.
| List by | Yamini Ravichandran |
TAGC 2020
Preprints recently presented at the virtual Allied Genetics Conference, April 22-26, 2020. #TAGC20
| List by | Maiko Kitaoka et al. |
3D Gastruloids
A curated list of preprints related to Gastruloids (in vitro models of early development obtained by 3D aggregation of embryonic cells). Updated until July 2021.
| List by | Paul Gerald L. Sanchez and Stefano Vianello |
ASCB EMBO Annual Meeting 2019
A collection of preprints presented at the 2019 ASCB EMBO Meeting in Washington, DC (December 7-11)
| List by | Madhuja Samaddar et al. |
EDBC Alicante 2019
Preprints presented at the European Developmental Biology Congress (EDBC) in Alicante, October 23-26 2019.
| List by | Sergio Menchero et al. |
EMBL Seeing is Believing – Imaging the Molecular Processes of Life
Preprints discussed at the 2019 edition of Seeing is Believing, at EMBL Heidelberg from the 9th-12th October 2019
| List by | Dey Lab |
SDB 78th Annual Meeting 2019
A curation of the preprints presented at the SDB meeting in Boston, July 26-30 2019. The preList will be updated throughout the duration of the meeting.
| List by | Alex Eve |
Lung Disease and Regeneration
This preprint list compiles highlights from the field of lung biology.
| List by | Rob Hynds |
Young Embryologist Network Conference 2019
Preprints presented at the Young Embryologist Network 2019 conference, 13 May, The Francis Crick Institute, London
| List by | Alex Eve |
Pattern formation during development
The aim of this preList is to integrate results about the mechanisms that govern patterning during development, from genes implicated in the processes to theoritical models of pattern formation in nature.
| List by | Alexa Sadier |
BSCB/BSDB Annual Meeting 2019
Preprints presented at the BSCB/BSDB Annual Meeting 2019
| List by | Dey Lab |
Zebrafish immunology
A compilation of cutting-edge research that uses the zebrafish as a model system to elucidate novel immunological mechanisms in health and disease.
| List by | Shikha Nayar |
Also in the evolutionary biology category:
‘In preprints’ from Development 2022-2023
A list of the preprints featured in Development's 'In preprints' articles between 2022-2023
| List by | Alex Eve, Katherine Brown |
preLights peer support – preprints of interest
This is a preprint repository to organise the preprints and preLights covered through the 'preLights peer support' initiative.
| List by | preLights peer support |
EMBO | EMBL Symposium: The organism and its environment
This preList contains preprints discussed during the 'EMBO | EMBL Symposium: The organism and its environment', organised at EMBL Heidelberg, Germany (May 2023).
| List by | Girish Kale |
9th International Symposium on the Biology of Vertebrate Sex Determination
This preList contains preprints discussed during the 9th International Symposium on the Biology of Vertebrate Sex Determination. This conference was held in Kona, Hawaii from April 17th to 21st 2023.
| List by | Martin Estermann |
EMBL Synthetic Morphogenesis: From Gene Circuits to Tissue Architecture (2021)
A list of preprints mentioned at the #EESmorphoG virtual meeting in 2021.
| List by | Alex Eve |
Planar Cell Polarity – PCP
This preList contains preprints about the latest findings on Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) in various model organisms at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels.
| List by | Ana Dorrego-Rivas |
TAGC 2020
Preprints recently presented at the virtual Allied Genetics Conference, April 22-26, 2020. #TAGC20
| List by | Maiko Kitaoka et al. |
ECFG15 – Fungal biology
Preprints presented at 15th European Conference on Fungal Genetics 17-20 February 2020 Rome
| List by | Hiral Shah |
COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 preprints
List of important preprints dealing with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. See http://covidpreprints.com for additional resources and timeline, and https://connect.biorxiv.org/relate/content/181 for full list of bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints on this topic
| List by | Dey Lab, Zhang-He Goh |
1
SDB 78th Annual Meeting 2019
A curation of the preprints presented at the SDB meeting in Boston, July 26-30 2019. The preList will be updated throughout the duration of the meeting.
| List by | Alex Eve |
Pattern formation during development
The aim of this preList is to integrate results about the mechanisms that govern patterning during development, from genes implicated in the processes to theoritical models of pattern formation in nature.
| List by | Alexa Sadier |