... tissues through local creation and modulation of differential electrical potential. The generation of such sensitization may be a foundation for competence in tissues. Integration of such electro-dynamic fluxes across a tissue can also shape responsiveness to morphogen signaling during development...

... confirm that naïve PSCs do not respond directly to germ layer induction, but must first acquire competence. Capacitation for multi-lineage differentiation occurs without exogenous growth factor stimulation and is facilitated by inhibition of Wnt signalling. Whole-transcriptome profiling during...

...Pavel Vopalensky; Sabrina Pralow; Nadine L. Vastenhouw ABSTRACT The activation of specific gene expression programs depends on the presence of the appropriate signals and the competence of cells to respond to those signals. Although it is well established that cellular competence is regulated...

...; (2) negative regulators that block competing fate choices; or (3) more likely a combination of both mechanisms. * Author for correspondence ( tomreh@uw.edu ) Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists...

... genetic lineage tracing method, and genetic data, we show that the competence to embark on a neuronal or sensory fate is provided sequentially and very early during otic placode induction. Loss of Foxi1 prevents neuronal precursor formation without affecting hair cell specification, whereas loss of Dlx3b...

...Johnny J. Touma; Frank F. Weckerle; Michael D. Cleary Similar to mammalian neural progenitors, Drosophila neuroblasts progressively lose competence to make early-born neurons. In neuroblast 7-1 (NB7-1), Kruppel (Kr) specifies the third-born U3 motoneuron and Kr misexpression induces ectopic U3...

...Hidehiko Hashimoto; Takashi Enomoto; Gaku Kumano; Hiroki Nishida In embryos of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi , the competence of isolated presumptive notochord blastomeres to respond to fibroblast growth factor (FGF) for induction of the primary notochord decays by 1 hour after cleavage from...

... in the absence of endogenous Hunchback. Previous studies have shown that Hunchback can specify early-born neuronal identity and maintain ‘young’ neural progenitor (neuroblast) competence. We identify two conserved domains required for Hunchback-mediated transcriptional repression, and show that transcriptional...

... tube and epidermis. Here, Dlx3, Dlx5, Pax6 and the pan-neuronal marker Hu serve as molecular labels to follow the maturation of olfactory precursors over time. When competence to form olfactory placode was tested by grafting ectoderm from different axial levels to the anterior neural fold, we found...

... determination of the lens. Otx2 expression in head ectoderm might constitute a part of the lens-forming bias suggested by embryological studies, and Notch signaling is likely to be one of the inducing signals provided from the optic vesicle to turn on the lens-specification programs in this competent/biased...

... origins in different tissues. Excess RA leads to ectopic foxi1 expression throughout the entire preplacodal domain. Foxi1 provides competence to adopt an otic fate. Subsequently, pax8 , the expression of which depends upon Foxi1 and Fgf, is also expressed throughout the preplacodal domain. By contrast...

... region when Bmp or Fgf signaling was blocked just before hepatic specification. However, hhex and prox1 expression in adjacent endodermal and mesodermal tissues appeared unaffected by these manipulations. Additional genetic studies indicate that the endoderm maintains competence for Bmp-mediated...

...-placodal domain. By contrast, ectoderm from outside this domain is not competent to express otic markers in response to Fgfs. Grafting naïve ectoderm into the pre-placodal domain causes upregulation of pre-placodal markers within 8 hours, together with the acquisition of competence to respond to Fgf...

...Andrew D. Chalmers; Bernhard Strauss; Nancy Papalopulu A key feature of early vertebrate development is the formation of superficial, epithelial cells that overlie non-epithelial deep cells. In Xenopus , deep and superficial cells show a range of differences,including a different competence...

... from numerous laboratories has shown that competence for myogenic development is restricted to the paraxial mesoderm ( Christ et al., 1979 ; Wachtler et al., 1982 ) and shown a role for neighbouring structures in promoting somitic myogenesis (reviewed by Borycki and Emerson, 2000 ; Hirsinger et al...

... suggest that spg / pou2 is a transcription factor that mediates regional competence to respond to Fgf8 signaling. Confocal microscopy of Bodipy-Ceramide (Molecular Probes) was as described previously ( Picker et al., 1999 ). Acridine Orange (2 μg/ml, Molecular Probes) was added into the medium...

... centers that pattern neighboring fields to create molecularly distinct domains. We investigated the mechanisms underlying the regionally distinct competence for two such organizing signals, Fibroblast growth factor 8 (Fgf8) and Sonic hedgehog (Shh), using chick embryos. First, we demonstrated that FGF...

...-hindbrain boundary (MHB) and for conferring competence to the anterior neuroectoderm in responding to forebrain-, midbrain- and rostral hindbrain-inducing activities. *Author for correspondence (e-mail: antonio.simeone@kcl.ac.uk ) 10 9 2001 © 2001. 2001 Otx2 Gbx2 Forebrain...

... specified to form the otic placode at the 4-6ss, and that this ectoderm is committed to a placodal fate by the 10ss. We also demonstrate that much of the embryonic ectoderm is competent to generate an otic placode if taken at a sufficiently early age. We have mapped the location of otic placode-inducing...

... formation of loose cell aggregates that may indicate neural crest precursor cells. Aggregates do not express an epidermal marker, indicating that opl suppresses ventral fates. Together, these data suggest that opl may mediate neural competence and may be involved in activation of midbrain, dorsal neural...