Meeting Abstract

40.3  Jan. 6  Detecting the early skeletal anlagen of the direct-developing frog Eleutherodacylus coqui through gene expression KERNEY, Ryan; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA kerney@fas.harvard.edu

Anurans exhibit a wide range of life history variation that often coincides with developmental diversity. The most dramatic departure from the typical biphasic lifestyle is direct development, where the free-living tadpole stage has been removed entirely. Concomitant with the evolution of direct development is the loss of several tadpole-specific features, which are not found in the direct developing embryo. Former work on this loss of features has focused on the head skeleton of the direct-developing frog Eleutherodactylus coqui using histology, immunohistochemistry and whole mount clear-and-stained analyses. These analyses have revealed the loss of the tadpole-specific jaw cartilages in the E. coqui embryo. Through in situ hybridizations with several early skeletal markers, this project extends our knowledge of early skeletal patterning in E. coqui, and reveals the presence of several pre-cartilaginous anlagen that may be homologous with the tadpole-specific mouthparts formerly thought to be absent in E. coqui.