Induction And Differentiation Of The Xenopus Ciliated Embryonic Epidermis

In this chapter, we shall focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the development of the Xenopus embryonic ciliated epidermis, a question that received little attention in comparison to mesoderm or neural development. We shall review the events that transform the pluripotent cells of the animal blastula hemisphere into nonneural ectodermal progenitors that subsequently differentiate into the four major cell types of the premetamorphic epidermis. The focus will be put on the biogenesis of multiciliated cells, which can be studied in the Xenopus embryonic epidermis more easily and more deeply than in any other model. We shall demonstrate how working on the frog embryonic epidermis may continue to yield basic as well as biomedically relevant knowledge in the fields of signaling, cell and tissue polarity, and ciliogenesis.