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Fig. 6 | BMC Evolutionary Biology

Fig. 6

From: A comparative view of early development in the corals Favia lizardensis, Ctenactis echinata, and Acropora millepora - morphology, transcriptome, and developmental gene expression

Fig. 6

Forkhead expression compared in the three species, each of which is arranged in order of age. (a) In F.lizardensis the earliest expression is in scattered ectodermal cells (arrowheads) as the blastopore is closing. (b) A little later in development an area of contiguous expression appears in cells on the rim of the blastopore. (c) Expression continues in the oral pore as the sphere elongates to become an early planula. In C.echinata expression appears at a comparable or slightly earlier stage, once again in isolated cells in the ectoderm (arrowheads). The left column (d, f, h) shows embryos in side view, while the right (e, g, i) shows the same embryos in blastoporal view (i.e. d and e, f and g, and h and i are micrographs of the same embryo). (j-m) In A.millepora the same pattern of expression is followed. (j) This embryo shows expression only in isolated ectodermal cells (arrowheads). (k) Portion of an embryo showing magnified view of scattered ectodermal cells which are expressing. (l) Oral end of another embryo showing expression in the blastopore/oral pore and in scattered ectodermal cells. (m) Early planula larva showing expression in the oral pore, only a few isolated ectodermal cells continue to express

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