Vera Lahl et al. (2001) International C. elegans Meeting "Early embryogenesis differs even in close relatives of C. elegans"

Vera Lahl, Marzena Kutzowitz, Christian Halama, Stefan Ingensand, Einhard Schierenberg, Magdalena Laugsch

[International C. elegans Meeting, 2001]

We have started to study close and more distant relatives of C. elegans for their pattern of embryogenesis. While many differ only marginally from C. elegans, others show considerable differences. These include the sequence of divisions, variations in the spatial arrangement of blastomeres, presence or absence of polarity reversal in the germline, requirement of early zygotic transcription for cleavage, mode of cell specification, gastrulation, and temperature tolerance. Variations in many but not all variations can be understood as different aspects of heterochrony. We find that,depending on the parameter considered, species closer related to C. elegans may nevertheless express stronger differences than species phylogenetically more distant. This suggests that environmental factors influence the pattern of early development.