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Published online 18 September 2000. doi:10.1083/jcb.150.6.1335
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2000/9/1335/ $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 150, Number 6, September 18, 2000 1335-1348

Original Article

Asymmetric p38 Activation in Zebrafish: Its Possible Role in Symmetric and Synchronous Cleavage

Ritsuko Fujiia, Susumu Yamashitaa, Masahiko Hibia, and Toshio Hiranoa
a Division of Molecular Oncology, Biomedical Research Center (C-7), Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 Japan

Correspondence to: Toshio Hirano, Division of Molecular Oncology (C-7), Biomedical Research Center, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 Japan. Tel:81-6-6879-3880 Fax:81-6-6879-3889

Cleavage is one of the initial steps of embryogenesis, and is characterized by a series of symmetric and synchronous cell divisions. We showed that p38 MAP kinase (p38) is asymmetrically activated on one side of the blastodisc during the early cleavage period in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. When a dominant negative (DN) form of p38 was uniformly expressed, blastomere cleavage was impaired on one side of the blastodisc, resulting in the formation of blastomeres with a large mass of cytoplasm and an enlarged nucleus on the affected side. The area affected by the DN-p38 expression did not correlate with the initial cleavage plane, but coincided with the side where dharma/bozozok, a dorsal-specific zygotic gene, was expressed (Yamanaka et al. 1998 Down). Furthermore, UV irradiation and removal of the vegetal yolk mass before the first cleavage, both of which inhibit the initiation of the dorsalizing signals, abolished the asymmetric p38 activation. Our findings suggest that asymmetric p38 activation is required for symmetric and synchronous cleavage, and may be regulated by the same machinery that controls the initiation of dorsalizing signals.

Key Words: zebrafish, p38, asymmetry, cleavage, microtubules


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