Fig. 3

Deciliation impairs LR asymmetric nodal cascade induction. SEM (a, b) and IF (c, d) analyses of cilia in control untreated embryos (a, c) and specimens exposed to a 60–90 s osmotic shock (b, d). Note that cilia were almost completely absent following high salt treatment. Cilia in (c) and (d) were stained with an antibody against anti-acetylated-α-tubulin (purple), nuclei with DAPI, and cell boundaries visualized by phalloidin-green. e, g Unilateral induction of asymmetric nodal cascade genes in control embryos. f, h Bilateral ectodermal nodal and pitx2 expression following deciliation of early to mid-gastrula stage embryos. Black arrowheads highlight expression in the archenteron and ectoderm; white arrowheads indicate lack of expression. i Quantification of expression pattern from (e–h). Unilateral pitx2 expression in coelomic pouches of pluteus stage control specimen (j) and bilateral expression in deciliated embryos (k). Bilateral expression of pitx2 after deciliation is independent of MAPK/p38 inhibition through SB203580 (l–m). o Quantification of expression patterns. Posterior/vegetal is to the top in (a, b) and to the bottom in (c–g)