Changes in glycoconjugate expression during early chick embryo development: a lectin-binding study.

A selection of lectins was used to investigate developmentally regulated changes in the distribution of cell surface oligosaccharides during the gastrulation and neurulation stages of early chick embryo development. Lectins from three specificity classes were used: glucose/mannose specificity (concanavalin A [Con A], Lens culinaris agglutinin [LCA], Pisum sativum agglutinin [PSA]); N-acetylglucosamine specificity (Lycopersicon esculentum agglutinin [LEA], wheat germ agglutinin [WGA], succinylated WGA [sWGA]); N-acetylgalactosamine/galactose specificity (Dolichos biflorus agglutinin [DBA], soybean agglutinin [SBA], Sophora japonica agglutinin [SJA], Bandeiraea (Griffonia) simplicifolia lectin I [BSL I], peanut agglutinin [PNA], Artocarpus integrifolia lectin [Jacalin], Ricinus communis agglutinin-1 [RCA-1], Erythrina cristagalli lectin [ECL]). At gastrulation stages, patterns of lectin binding could be distinguished in the epiblast, mesoderm, and endoderm cell layers. The primitive streak failed to bind any of the lectins, but LEA and WGA bound to the epiblast in regions lateral to the streak, indicating the loss of some glucosamine residues medially in preparation for the ingression movements of gastrulation. Several lectins showed marked binding to the mesoderm cells after their passage through the primitive streak; these were LCA, PSA, WGA, sWGA, BSL, and most particularly PNA. Therefore, the epithelial-mesenchymal transformation from epiblast to mesoderm at the primitive streak is accompanied by cell surface oligosaccharide changes in the epiblast and mesoderm that involve all classes of lectins including the PNA-binding sequence Gal beta 1-3GalNAc. Ultrastructurally, PNA was shown to bind extracellularly to matrix fibrils. Jacalin, having the same sugar specificity as PNA, but binding to serine/threonine linked chains rather than asparagine linked chains showed no binding to the mesoderm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)