Developmental Dynamics in Real Time

Extract

Embryologic development is a dynamic process that has been previously studied by examining static (usually chemically-fixed) specimens at different time periods and then extrapolating results by assembling a series of static images. Recently, Amy McMahon, Willy Supatto, Scott Fraser, and Angelike Stathopoulos have developed new methods to look at developmental migration patterns in real time. They used an optimized imaging approach and quantitative methods to analyze a two hour period during which gastrulation occurred in the embryos of fruitflies (Drosophila). Specifically, they characterized the complex interactions between cells of the ectoderm and mesoderm by tracking the movements of over 1,500 cells, which involved the analysis of over 100,000 cell positions for each embryo!