Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Developmental Processes

BP 8.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 11:45–12:00, HÜL 186

Exploring Fgf8 morphogen gradient in vivo — •Markus Burkhardt, Shuizi Rachel Yu, Matthias Nowak, Jonas Ries, Zdeněk Petrášek, Petra Schwille, and Michael Brand — BIOTEC/ TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, 01307 Dresden, Germany

It is widely accepted that tissue differentiation and morphogenesis in multicellular organisms is regulated by tightly controlled concentration gradients of morphogens. How exactly these gradients are formed and maintained, however, is highly controversial. Here, we present a study in living Zebrafish embryos where we directly examine Fgf8 morphogen mobility and concentration by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). Our results support a simple mechanism to form an Fgf8 morphogen gradient in Zebrafish embryos. The study shows the potential of FCS as a quantitative method to investigate morphogen gradients at the single molecule level in developing multicellular organisms.