1,259 research outputs found
Neural Induction in Xenopus: Requirement for Ectodermal and Endomesodermal Signals via Chordin, Noggin, β-Catenin, and Cerberus
The origin of the signals that induce the differentiation of the central nervous system (CNS) is a long-standing question in vertebrate embryology. Here we show that Xenopus neural induction starts earlier than previously thought, at the blastula stage, and requires the combined activity of two distinct signaling centers. One is the well-known Nieuwkoop center, located in dorsal-vegetal cells, which expresses Nodal-related endomesodermal inducers. The other is a blastula Chordin- and Noggin-expressing (BCNE) center located in dorsal animal cells that contains both prospective neuroectoderm and Spemann organizer precursor cells. Both centers are downstream of the early β-Catenin signal. Molecular analyses demonstrated that the BCNE center was distinct from the Nieuwkoop center, and that the Nieuwkoop center expressed the secreted protein Cerberus (Cer). We found that explanted blastula dorsal animal cap cells that have not yet contacted a mesodermal substratum can, when cultured in saline solution, express definitive neural markers and differentiate histologically into CNS tissue. Transplantation experiments showed that the BCNE region was required for brain formation, even though it lacked CNS-inducing activity when transplanted ventrally. Cell-lineage studies demonstrated that BCNE cells give rise to a large part of the brain and retina and, in more posterior regions of the embryo, to floor plate and notochord. Loss-of-function experiments with antisense morpholino oligos (MO) showed that the CNS that forms in mesoderm-less Xenopus embryos (generated by injection with Cerberus-Short [CerS] mRNA) required Chordin (Chd), Noggin (Nog), and their upstream regulator β-Catenin. When mesoderm involution was prevented in dorsal marginal-zone explants, the anterior neural tissue formed in ectoderm was derived from BCNE cells and had a complete requirement for Chd. By injecting Chd morpholino oligos (Chd-MO) into prospective neuroectoderm and Cerberus morpholino oligos (Cer-MO) into prospective endomesoderm at the 8-cell stage, we showed that both layers cooperate in CNS formation. The results suggest a model for neural induction in Xenopus in which an early blastula β-Catenin signal predisposes the prospective neuroectoderm to neural induction by endomesodermal signals emanating from Spemann's organizer
Optical Spectroscopy of the IRAS 1-Jy Sample of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
This paper discusses the optical spectroscopic properties of the IRAS 1-Jy
sample of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs). One hundred and eight of the
118 1-Jy ULIGs have been observed at dlambda = 8.3 AA resolution over the
wavelength range ~4500 A -- 8900 A. These data are combined with large,
previously published sets of optical spectroscopic data of lower luminosity
infrared galaxies to look for systematic trends with infrared luminosity over
the luminosity range L_ir ~ 10^{10.5}-10^{13} L_sun. As found in previous
studies, the fraction of Seyfert galaxies among luminous infrared galaxies
increases abruptly above L_ir ~ 10^{12.3} L_sun --- about 50% of the galaxies
with L_ir > 10^{12.3} L_sun present Seyfert characteristics. Many of the
optical and infrared spectroscopic properties of the Seyfert galaxies are
consistent with the presence of a genuine active galactic nucleus (AGN). About
30% of these galaxies are Seyfert 1s with broad-line regions similar to those
of optical quasars. The percentage of Seyfert 1 ULIGs increases with infrared
luminosity, contrary to the predictions of the standard unification model for
Seyfert galaxies. Comparisons of the broad-line luminosities of optical and
obscured Seyfert 1 ULIGs with those of optically selected quasars of comparable
bolometric luminosity suggest that the dominant energy source in most of these
ULIGs is the same as in optical quasars, namely mass accretion onto a
supermassive black hole, rather than a starburst. These results are consistent
with recently published ISO, ASCA, and VLBI data. (abridged)Comment: Text and 23 figures (45 pages), Tables 1 - 6 (16 pages
Mad Is Required for Wingless Signaling in Wing Development and Segment Patterning in Drosophila
A key question in developmental biology is how growth factor signals are integrated to generate pattern. In this study we investigated the integration of the Drosophila BMP and Wingless/GSK3 signaling pathways via phosphorylations of the transcription factor Mad. Wingless was found to regulate the phosphorylation of Mad by GSK3 in vivo. In epistatic experiments, the effects of Wingless on wing disc molecular markers (senseless, distalless and vestigial) were suppressed by depletion of Mad with RNAi. Wingless overexpression phenotypes, such as formation of ectopic wing margins, were induced by Mad GSK3 phosphorylation-resistant mutant protein. Unexpectedly, we found that Mad phosphorylation by GSK3 and MAPK occurred in segmental patterns. Mad depletion or overexpression produced Wingless-like embryonic segmentation phenotypes. In Xenopus embryos, segmental border formation was disrupted by Smad8 depletion. The results show that Mad is required for Wingless signaling and for the integration of gradients of positional information
Minkowski's Object: A Starburst Triggered by a Radio Jet, Revisited
We present neutral hydrogen, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared imaging,
and optical spectroscopy, of Minkowski's Object (MO), a star forming peculiar
galaxy near NGC 541. The observations strengthen evidence that star formation
in MO was triggered by the radio jet from NGC 541. Key new results are the
discovery of a 4.9E8 solar mass double HI cloud straddling the radio jet
downstream from MO, where the jet changes direction and decollimates; strong
detections of MO, also showing double structure, in UV and H-alpha; and
numerous HII regions and associated clusters in MO. In UV, MO resembles the
radio-aligned, rest-frame UV morphologies in many high redshift radio galaxies
(HzRGs), also thought to be caused by jet-induced star formation. MO's stellar
population is dominated by a 7.5 Myr-old, 1.9E7 solar mass instantaneous burst,
with current star formation rate 0.52 solar masses per year (concentrated
upstream from where the HI column density is high). This is unlike the
jet-induced star formation in Centaurus A, where the jet interacts with
pre-existing cold gas; in MO the HI may have cooled out of a warmer, clumpy
intergalactic or interstellar medium as a result of jet interaction, followed
by collapse of the cooling clouds and subsequent star formation (consistent
with numerical simulations). Since the radio source that triggered star
formation in MO is much less luminous, and therefore more common, than powerful
HzRGs, and because the environment around MO is not particularly special in
terms of abundant dense, cold gas, jet-induced star formation in the early
universe might be even more prevalent than previously thought.Comment: 52 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Carbon in Spiral Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Spectroscopy
We present measurements of the gas-phase C/O abundance ratio in six H II
regions in the spiral galaxies M101 and NGC 2403, based on ultraviolet
spectroscopy using the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope.
The C/O ratios increase systematically with O/H in both galaxies, from log C/O
approximately -0.8 at log O/H = -4.0 to log C/O approx. -0.1 at log O/H = -3.4.
C/N shows no correlation with O/H. The rate of increase of C/O is somewhat
uncertain because of uncertainty as to the appropriate UV reddening law, and
uncertainty in the metallicity dependence on grain depletions. However, the
trend of increasing C/O with O/H is clear, confirming and extending the trend
in C/O indicated previously from observations of irregular galaxies. Our data
indicate that the radial gradients in C/H across spiral galaxies are steeper
than the gradients in O/H. Comparing the data to chemical evolution models for
spiral galaxies shows that models in which the massive star yields do not vary
with metallicity predict radial C/O gradients that are much flatter than the
observed gradients. The most likely hypothesis at present is that stellar winds
in massive stars have an important effect on the yields and thus on the
evolution of carbon and oxygen abundances. C/O and N/O abundance ratios in the
outer disks of spirals determined to date are very similar to those in dwarf
irregular galaxies. This implies that the outer disks of spirals have average
stellar population ages much younger than the inner disks.Comment: 38 pages, 9 postscript figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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