bra expression was activated in the nocodazole-treated embryos but not in the suramin-injected embryos. In contrast, the LDMZ of the suramin-injected embryos lost its dorsal mesoderm-inducing activity. The dorsal mesoderm-inducing activity of the LDMZ in the nocodazole-treated gastrulae was still active. Suramin-injected and nocodazole-treated blastulae did not have involution of the dorsal marginal zone, although the blastopore was formed. These embryos were rescued by artificially facilitating involution of the dorsal marginal zone. Involution of the dorsal marginal zone was disturbed by the abnormal blastopore. Ultraviolet-irradiated eggs formed an abnormal blastopore and then did not form a dorsal axis, although the lower dorsal marginal zone (LDMZ) still had dorsal mesoderm-inducing activity. It was confirmed that the isolated dorsal C and D blastomeres autonomously formed a blastopore. The blastopore-forming (bottle) cells originated mainly from the progeny of the mid-dorsal C and/or D blastomeres of the 32-cell embryo, but were not defined to a fixed blastomere. The independent roles of blastopore formation and dorsal mesoderm induction in dorsal axis formation of the Cynops pyrrhogaster embryo were attempted to be clarified.

Blastopore formation