Source: Riken Institute / Riken Cener for Developmental Biology
Date: April 7, 2011
Summary:
Developmental processes are increasingly well-characterized at the molecular and cell biological levels, but how more complex tissues and organs involving the coordinated action of multiple cell types in three dimensions is achieved remains something of a black box. One question of particular interest and importance is whether signaling interactions between neighboring tissues are essential to guiding organogenesis, or whether these can arise autonomously from developmental routines inherent to a given primordial tissue. Finding answers to these questions will be critical both to a better understanding of embryonic phenomena and to the ability to control the differentiation of cell populations into desired configurations.
In a breakthrough new report, RIKEN Cener for Developmental Biology researchers describe how mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are able to differentiate and assemble into an optic cup, capable of giving rise to a tissue exhibiting the stratified structure characteristic of the retina in vivo. Published in Nature, the study used a cutting-edge three-dimensional tissue culture system not only to demonstrate this self-organizing capacity of pluripotent stem cells, but the underlying cell dynamics as well.
