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Expression of maternal and zygotic genes during sea urchin embryogenesis

Eggs of many organisms contain a store of mRNA which supports protein synthesis during early embryonic development and various regions of the egg cytoplasm are not identical with respect to developmental potential. I investigated the extent to which sea urchin embryogenesis results from a progression of developmental events directed by the embryo, or an expression of a pre-formed maternal program. By the use of two-dimensional electrophoresis I demonstrated that cellular determination during embryonic development at the 16-cell stage is not accompanied by qualitative changes in the distribution within the embryo of abundantly-synthesized proteins, virtually all of which are coded by sequences present in the egg. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, nucleic acid hybridization and molecular cloning, I demonstrated that there is restricted expression of paternal gene mRNA sequences in interspecies hybrid embryos. In some cases, this is due to a posttranscriptional perturbation of gene expression in the hybrid embryos.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.71939
Date January 1984
CreatorsTufaro, Francis.
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageDoctor of Philosophy (Department of Biology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 000191086, proquestno: AAINK66684, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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