BACKGROUND The prospects of deciphering the genetic program underlying embryonic development were recently boosted by the generation of large sets of precisely organized quantitative molecular data. In contrast, although the precise arrangement, interactions, and shapes of cells are crucial for the fulfilment of this program, their description remains coarse and qualitative. To bridge this gap,...

Many animal embryos use nuclear β-catenin (nβ-catenin) during the segregation of endomesoderm (or endoderm) from ectoderm. This mechanism is thus likely to be evolutionarily ancient. In the ascidian embryo, nβ-catenin reiteratively drives binary fate decisions between ectoderm and endomesoderm at the 16-cell stage, and then between endoderm and margin (mesoderm and caudal neural) at the 32-cell...

In temperate seas, both bacterioplankton communities and invertebrate lifecycles follow a seasonal pattern. To investigate whether the bacterial community associated with the Mediterranean ascidian Didemnum fulgens exhibited similar variations, we monitored its bacterial community structure monthly for over a year using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and clone library analyse...

This review focuses on pyridoacridine-related metabolites as one biologically interesting group of alkaloids identified from marine sources. They are produced by marine sponges, ascidians and tunicates, and they are structurally comprised of four to eight fused rings including heterocycles. Acridine, acridone, dihydroacridine, and quinolone cores are features regularly found in these alkaloid s...

To obtain specific immunological probes for studying molecular mechanisms involved in the early embryonic development of ascidians, we have produced monoclonal antibodies directed against a homogenate of larvae of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi. Among these, we have screened monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize cells and/or tissues of the embryo. Characterization of six epidermis...

The ascidian embryo is an ideal system to investigate how cell position is determined during embryogenesis. Using 3D timelapse imaging and computational methods we analyzed the planar cell divisions in ascidian early embryos and found that spindles in every cell tend to align at metaphase in the long length of the apical surface except in cells undergoing unequal cleavage. Furthermore, the inva...

In continuation of our ongoing efforts to identify bioactive compounds from Red Sea marine organisms, a new collection of the ascidian Didemnum species was investigated. Chromatographic fractionation and HPLC purification of the CH2Cl2 fraction of an organic extract of the ascidian resulted in the identification of two new spiroketals, didemnaketals F (1) and G (2). The structure determination ...