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Developmental biology

Cripto-analysis of embryonic codes

Nature volume 395, pages 641–643 (1998)Cite this article

One of the earliest tasks for any embryo is to decide where to form its head as opposed to its tail. This establishes the antero-posterior axis of the organism. In Drosophila embryos, this axis is dictated by the molecular asymmetries that are generated during development of the egg. But in vertebrate embryos, such as the frog, the axis is thought to result from the influence of the organizer — a specialized region that forms on one side of the embryo after fertilization. Products of the organizer cause the ectoderm on the surface of the frog embryo to become neural, and give this neural tissue an explicit antero-posterior pattern1. However, studies on the mouse embryo, including those described by Ding et al.2 on page 702 of this issue, indicate that the time-honoured organizer may not determine where the head forms in mammals.

Using targeted mutagenesis, Ding et al.2 studied the function of Cripto. This gene belongs to a newly discovered family that encodes secreted proteins with cysteine-rich and epidermal-growth-factor-like motifs. Cripto is initially expressed exclusively and uniformly in the epiblast. Then, gradually, its transcripts become restricted to the proximal rim of the epiblast, which is fated to form the primitive streak (Fig. 1a). The authors found that embryos lacking Cripto have neither a streak nor an embryonic mesoderm, although extra-embryonic mesoderm is present. Markers of the streak are transiently expressed throughout proximal epiblast, but they never become localized — as they should if a streak formed. Likewise, the organizer and axial mesendoderm are absent. Yet in spite of this, the epiblast differentiates into neural tissue that shows only anterior (forebrain and midbrain) character (Fig. 1b). How can this anterior identity arise without an organizer?

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Figure 1: Antero-posterior patterning in normal and Cripto-mutant mouse embryos.

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  1. Division of Mammalian Development, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, The Ridgeway, NW7 1AA, London, UK

    Rosa Beddington

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  1. Rosa Beddington
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Beddington, R. Cripto-analysis of embryonic codes. Nature 395, 641–643 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/27086

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