20-P031 Dpp signalling directs cell motility and invasiveness during epithelial morphogenesis

fluorescent dyes Dil or DiO via microinjection to generate a fatemap of the non-neural ectoderm of Xenopus laevis embryos during neurulation. Our lineage analysis confirms that all placodes arise from a common primordium and indicates the regions of origin of the different placodes. We further use time-lapse videomicroscopy to analyse the cell movements and behaviour of ectodermal cells of developing embryos. Our results suggest that the panplacodal primordium divides into different placodes without a large degree of cell sorting in Xenopus.