Developmental biologists did the following experiments to discover the role of e

Question

Developmental biologists did the following experiments to discover the role of endoderm in the specification of cardiogenic mesoderm.

Using early mouse embryos:
Experiment 1: Removed the anterior endoderm and cultured the embryo – no cardiogenic mesoderm and no heart muscle cells developed.                       

Experiment 2: Removed anterior endoderm and replaced it posterior endoderm from another embryo and cultured the embryo – no cardiogenic mesoderm and no heart muscle cells formed.                     

Experiment 3: Removed anterior endoderm and replaced it anterior endoderm from another embryo and cultured the embryo – cardiogenic mesoderm and heart muscle cells developed.      

Interpret these data. What are the signals that come from the anterior endoderm? What is their role in specification of the cardiogenic mesoderm?  

Explanation / Answer

The data given in the experiment suggests that anterior endoderm is necessary for formation of cardiogenic mesoderm and heart muscle cells.

The signal molecules that come from the anterior endoderm that are needed for specification of heart cells in the anterior mesoderm are the following,

These three molecules are called as wnt inhibitors. They inhibit wnt3a and wnt8 secreted by the neural tube from inhibiting heart formation.

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