Development 129, 5205-5216 (2002) 5205 Printed in Great Britain © The Company of Biologists Limited 2002 DEV5034 T-brain homologue (HpTb) is involved in the archenteron induction signals of micromere descendant cells in the sea urchin embryo Takuya Fuchikami1, Keiko Mitsunaga-Nakatsubo1, Shonan Amemiya2, Toshiya Hosomi1, Takashi Watanabe1, Daisuke Kurokawa1,*, Miho Kataoka1, Yoshito Harada3, Nori Satoh3, Shinichiro Kusunoki4, Kazuko Takata1, Taishin Shimotori1, Takashi Yamamoto1, Naoaki Sakamoto1, Hiraku Shimada1 and Koji Akasaka1,† 1Department of Mathematical and Life Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan 2Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan 3Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan 4LSL, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 178-0061, Japan *Present address: Evolutionary Regeneration Biology Group, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe 650-0047, Japan †Author for correspondence (e-mail:
[email protected]) Accepted 30 July 2002 SUMMARY Signals from micromere descendants play a crucial role in cells, the initial specification of primary mesenchyme cells, sea urchin development. In this study, we demonstrate that or the specification of endoderm. HpTb expression is these micromere descendants express HpTb, a T-brain controlled by nuclear localization of β-catenin, suggesting homolog of Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus. HpTb is expressed that