Following the Pattern

So remote from us in both appearance and lifestyle, sea urchins are unlikely models for human biology; yet historically they have been instrumental in uncovering fundamental principles of development, and still have more to teach us. Early in development, a key step is to lay out the orientation of the growing animal, or the dorso-ventral and anterior-posterior axes. Recent work with sea urchins has shown that the distribution of a molecule laid down in the egg by the mother, dubbed Panda, is critical to placing the dorso-ventral axis. Pictured are sea urchin embryos, two days after conception; the brown colour indicates a molecule inactivating Panda, while turquoise highlights embryos in which Panda levels were restored, rescuing the dorso-ventral axis. Panda interacts with another molecule, Nodal, already known to be important in patterning mammalian body axes, thus raising the possibility that Panda-like factors could be involved in our development too.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image from work by Emmanuel Haillot and colleagues
• University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Biology, September 2015