Prof. Oates Group

Laboratory

Dynamics of zebrafish somitogenesis

Andrew Charles Oates

Vertebrate somitogenesis is a rhythmically repeated morphogenetic process. The dependence of somitogenesis dynamics on axial position and temperature has not been investigated systematically in any species. Here we use multiple embryo time-lapse imaging to ...

2008

Completing the set of h/E(spl) cyclic genes in zebrafish: her12 and her15 reveal novel modes of expression and contribute to the segmentation clock

Andrew Charles Oates

Somitogenesis is the key developmental process that lays down the framework for a metameric body in vertebrates. Somites are generated from the un-segmented presomitic mesoderm (PSM) by a pre-patterning process driven by a molecular oscillator termed the s ...

2007

Vertebrate embryos faithfully produce bilaterally symmetric somites that give rise to repetitive body structures such as vertebrae and skeletal muscle. Body segmentation is regulated by a cyclic gene expression system, containing the Delta-Notch pathway an ...

2007

At the end of gastrulation in avians and mammals, the endoderm germ layer is an undetermined sheet of cells. Over the next 24-48 h, endoderm forms a primitive tube and becomes regionally specified along the anterior-posterior axis. Fgf4 is expressed in gas ...

2006

Generation of segment polarity in the paraxial mesoderm of the zebrafish through a T-box-dependent inductive event

Andrew Charles Oates, Laurel Ann Rohde

The first morphological sign of vertebrate postcranial body segmentation is the sequential production from posterior paraxial mesoderm of blocks of cells termed somites. Each of these embryonic structures is polarized along the anterior/posterior axis, a s ...

2005

Segmentation of paraxial mesoderm in vertebrates is regulated by a genetic oscillator that manifests as a series of wavelike or cyclic gene expression domains in the embryo. In zebrafish, this oscillator involves members of the Delta/Notch intercellular si ...

2005

Signals from lateral plate mesoderm instruct endoderm toward a pancreatic fate

Anne Grapin-Botton, Mithlesh Kumar

During embryonic development, organs arise along the gut tube as a series of buds in a stereotyped anterior-posterior (A-P) pattern. Using chick-quail chimeras and in vitro tissue recombination, we studied the interactions governing the. induction and main ...

2003

We have examined the expression of a Hairy/E(spl)-related (Her) gene, her7, in the zebrafish and show that its expression in the PSM cycles similarly to her1 and deltaC. A decrease in her7 function generated by antisense oligonucleotides disrupts somite fo ...

2002

The mammalian transcription factor SPI-1 (synonyms: SPI1, PU.1, or Sfpi1) plays a critical role in myeloid development. To examine early myeloid commitment in the zebrafish embryo, we isolated a gene from zebrafish that is a SPI-1 orthologue on the basis o ...

2002

Zebrafish lunatic fringe demarcates segmental boundaries

Andrew Charles Oates

Cell interactions involving Notch signaling are required for the demarcation of tissue boundaries in both invertebrate and vertebrate development. Members of the Fringe gene family encode β-1,3 N-acetyl-glucosaminyltransferases that function to refine the ...

2001