Gray and Red Fragments of the Egg of the Ascidian Ciona savignyi: Preferential Development of Muscle Cells from Gray Fragments

The egg of the ascidian Ciona savignyi is pinkish red with brownish myoplasm that contains the putative determinants responsible for differentiation of muscle cells. When dechorionated unfertilized eggs were centrifuged at moderate speed, eggs were divided into centripetal, small gray fragments and centrifugal, large red fragments. The former contained the female pronucleus and clear cytoplasm, while most of the latter was filled with yolk granules. An antibody raised against the myoplasm of C. intestinalis eggs extensively stained the cortical region of gray fragments, while the antibody stained only small regions of the red fragments. After insemination, both fragments cleaved and gave rise to partial embryos. When development of muscle and epidermal cells in the partial embryos was examined with specific antibodies, muscle development was conspicuous in gray partial embryos, while epidermal differentiation was extensive in red partial embryos. Furthermore, when expression of markers of differentiation was examined in cleavage-arrested gray and red fragments, the number of arrested gray fragments exhibiting the muscle marker was about three-fold greater than in controls. These results suggest that putative muscle determinants are concentrated into gray fragments.