Nguyen C Q, Hall D H, Yang Y, Fitch D H
Department of Biology, New York University, New York, New York, 10003, USA.
Dev Biol. 1999 Mar 1;207(1):86-106. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1998.9173.
Using electron microscopy and immunofluorescent labeling of adherens junctions, we have reconstructed the changes in cell architecture and intercellular associations that occur during morphogenesis of the nematode male tail tip. During late postembryonic development, the Caenorhabditis elegans male tail is reshaped to form a copulatory structure. The most posterior hypodermal cells in the tail define a specialized, sexually dimorphic compartment in which cells fuse and retract in the male, changing their shape from a tapered cone to a blunt dome. Developmental profiles using electron microscopy and immunofluorescent staining suggest that cell fusions are initiated at or adjacent to adherens junctions. Anterior portions of the tail tip cells show the first evidence of retractions and fusions, consistent with our hypothesis that an anterior event triggers these morphogenetic events. Available mutations that interfere with morphogenesis implicate particular regulatory pathways and suggest loci at which evolutionary changes could have produced morphological diversity.
利用电子显微镜和黏着连接的免疫荧光标记，我们重建了线虫雄性尾尖形态发生过程中细胞结构和细胞间联系的变化。在胚胎后期发育过程中，秀丽隐杆线虫的雄性尾部会重塑形成一个交配结构。尾部最靠后的皮下细胞定义了一个特殊的、具有性别二态性的区域，在雄性中，该区域的细胞融合并回缩，其形状从锥形变为钝圆顶形。使用电子显微镜和免疫荧光染色的发育图谱表明，细胞融合在黏着连接处或其附近开始。尾尖细胞的前部显示出回缩和融合的最初迹象，这与我们的假设一致，即前部事件触发了这些形态发生事件。干扰形态发生的现有突变涉及特定的调控途径，并暗示了进化变化可能产生形态多样性的位点。
