Differentiation Expression in Blastomeres of Cleavage‐Arrested Embryos of the Ascidian Halocynthia roretzi

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Abstract
The question whether two or more different genetic programs are expressed in the common cytoplasm of single blastomeres or the expression of one genetic program somehow excludes expression of the other, was analyzed by assessing the occurrence of a muscle-specific and two epidermis-specific antigens in cleavage-arrested blastomeres in early embryos of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi. Blastomeres which had been arrested in 1- to 4-cell stages expressed only the epidermis markers. Arrested 8-cell to 32-cell embryos produced both epidermis and muscle markers, but each cell expressed only one program of differentiation, even though some possessed the potential to express both. The differentiation expressions followed their cell lineages. These results indicate that at least in this experimental system differentiation markers of the two different cell-types are expressed exclusively. A distinct order was noticed in expression of the two epidermis markers in a single blastomeres; a marker is always superiorly expressed, whereas the other appears only when the superior marker is expressed.