In the early chick embryo, an apical ectodermal ridge (AER) is formed
from the overlying ectoderm of the presumptive limb bud region at the
dorsal-ventral (DV) boundary. We report here that the ectopic DV bound
ary formed in the presumptive wing, flank, and leg fields induces an e
ctopic AER structure. Dorsal tissue (ectoderm and mesoderm) from the p
resumptive wing held of stage 10 to 17 embryos was inserted into a sli
t in the somatopleure of the future ventral side of host embryos. The
same method was used to implant ventral tissue into the future dorsal
side of host embryos. After the implantation, ectopic AER was induced
and an additional limb or limb-like structure developed. In related ex
periments, ectoderm-free presumptive wing tissue was implanted, which
resulted in a considerably decreased frequency of ectopic AER formatio
n. Further analysis of chick and quail chimeras suggests that the ecto
pic AER was formed from the ectodermal cells overlying the boundary of
host and graft mesodermal cells. These results indicate that the DV b
oundary organizes the AER structure in the limb bud field of early-sta
ge chick embryos and that the ectoderm of the grafted tissues plays an
important role in this process. (C) 1997 Academic Press.