Figure 8

Summary of mechanisms controlling the development of comb plates and photocytes. (A) Overview of the normal embryonic development of Mnemiopsis and the different treatments with cytochalasin B, aphidicolin, cytochalasin B plus aphidicolin, actinomycin D and puromycin. The black arrow indicates when combs form during normal development. The yellow part of each bar indicates when a treatment starts that permits comb formation, and the green part indicates when a treatment starts that permits photocyte formation, in those cases where it has been tested. The white part of each bar indicates the developmental period, when treatment with the inhibitor blocks comb or photocyte formation. (B) Overview of the segregation of developmental determinants throughout early cleavages. All embryos are shown from the aboral pole. At the 4-cell stage, the developmental determinants are not yet segregated. At the 8-cell stage, the M blastomeres inherit factors that specify the photocyte lineage (green clouds labeled with ‘photo’) and the E blastomeres inherit factors that specify the comb-cell lineage (orange clouds labeled with ‘comb’). At the 16-cell stage, factors that specify the comb-cell lineage are segregated to the e₁ micromeres. The m₁ micromeres can form combs but they require an inductive signal from the e cells (pink clouds) in addition to signals provided by the endomesoderm[20]. (C) Schematic overview of changes DNA to cytoplasmic ratio during normal development and embryos treated with cytochalasin B, which is a potential mechanism for counting the number of cell divisions.