Early embryo patterning in the grasshopper, Schistocerca gregaria: wingless, decapentaplegic and caudal expression

Although the molecular pathways that pattern the early embryo of Drosophila melanogaster are well understood, how these pathways differ in other types of insect embryo remains largely unknown. We have examined the expression of three markers of early patterning in the embryo of the African plague lo cust Schistocerca gregaria, an orthopteran insect that displays a mode of e mbryogenesis very different from that of Drosophila. Transcripts of the cau dal gene are expressed maternally and are present in all cells that aggrega te to form the early embryonic rudiment. First signs of a posterior-to-ante rior gradient in the levels of caudal transcript appear in the early heart- stage embryo, shortly before gastrulation. This gradient rapidly resolves t o a defined expression domain marking segment A11. The decapentaplegic (dpp ) gene, which encodes a transforming growth factor beta family ligand, is f irst expressed in a circle of cells that delimit the margins of the embryon ic primordium, where embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues abut. Patterned transcription of wingless reveals that the first segments are delineated in the Schistocerca embryo substantially earlier than previously thought, at least 14-16 hours before the onset of engrailed expression. By the late hea rt-stage, gnathal and thoracic segments are all defined. Thus, with respect to the molecular patterning of segments, the short germ Schistocerca embry o differs little from intermediate germ embryos. The expression of these ma rker genes suggests that embryonic pattern formation in the grasshopper occ urs as cells move together to form the blastodisc.