TLS Online TPP Program

#Question id: 7121


How do the endodermal cells of the sea urchin embryo carry out gut formation during gastrulation?

#Unit 5. Developmental Biology
  1. They move inside the blastocoel, and form the skeletal structures that will support the adult animal.
  2. They move into the blastocoel as mesenchyme and crawl ventrally, to mark the location of the future mouth.
  3. Changes in cell shape initiate the invagination; convergent extension extends the sheet of cells into the blastocoel, and finally, filopodia make contact with the future mouth region and pull the tip of the gut to that point.
  4. They enter the interior of the embryo through the dorsal lip of the blastopore and, through a combination of cell movements and convergent extension, form the gut.