Phenotypical expression of reduced mobility during limb ontogeny in frogs: the knee-joint case
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Developmental Biology, Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology, Histology
- Keywords
- phenotypical expression, reduced mobility, knee-joint, anurans, development
- Copyright
- © 2016 Ponssa et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2015. Phenotypical expression of reduced mobility during limb ontogeny in frogs: the knee-joint case. PeerJ PrePrints 4:e1623v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1623v1
Abstract
Movement is one of the most important epigenetic factors for normal development of the muscle-skeletal system, particularly during genesis and joint development. Studies regarding alterations to embryonic mobility, performed on anurans, chickens and mammals, report important phenotypical similarities as a result of the reduction or absence of this stimulus. The precise stage of development at which the stimulus modification generates phenotypic modifications however, is yet to be determined. In this work we explore whether the developmental effects of abnormal mobility can appear at any time during development or whether they begin to express themselves in particular phases of tadpole ontogeny. We conducted five experiments that showed that morphological abnormalities are not visible until Stages 40–42. Morphology in earlier stages remains normal, probably due to the fact that the bones/muscles/tendons have not yet developed and therefore are not affected by immobilization. These results suggest the existence of a specific period of phenotypical expression in which normal limb movement is necessary for the correct development of the joint tissue framework.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
Supplemental Information
Online Resource 1. Video showing juvenile specimen reared in agar medium until metamorphosis and then transferred to water, with difficulty in its normal locomotion
Online Resource II
Video showing juvenile specimen reared in water until metamorphosis, displaying normal locomotion. ~3�=�f�