Mesodermal cell differentiation in echinoid embryos derived from the animal cap recombined with a quartet of micromeres

Mesodermal cell differentiation in echinoid embryos derived from the animal cap recombined with micromeres was examined. An animal cap consisting of mesomere-descendants was isolated from a 32-cell stage embryo, and recombined with a quartet of micromeres isolated from a 16-cell stage embryo. The recombined embryos were completely depleted of the progenitors of an archenteron, pigment cells, blastocoelar cells and muscle cells. Secondary mesenchyme-like cells (induced SMC) were released from the archenteron derived from the animal cap cells in the recombined embryos. Some induced SMC differentiated into pigment cells, confirming previous data for another echinoid species. Moreover, three different kinds of mesodermal cells - blastocoelar, muscle and coelomic pouch cells-were formed in the recombined larvae. Experiments using a fluorescent probe confirmed that the pigment, blastocoelar, muscle cells and cells in part of the coelomic pouches in the recombined larvae were derived from the animal cap mesomeres. These results indicated that the animal cap mesomere had the potential to differentiate through cell fate regulation into four mesodermal cell types - pigment, blastocoelar, muscle and coelomic pouch cells-.