The capacity of normal and talpid3 mutant fowl myogenic cells to migrate in quail limb buds.

Talpid3 is a recessive lethal mutant of the fowl. It has been shown previously that, in vitro, talpid3 limb mesenchyme cells are more adhesive and less mobile than normal cells. It is therefore of interest to investigate the effect of the gene on cell movement in vivo, in the limb bud itself, in cells in which it is known to occur in normal embryos. Myogenic cells, which normally migrate into the limb bud from the somites, continue to move distalwards when grafted into the limb bud at a later stage. Blocks of normal or talpid3 limb mesenchyme containing myogenic cells were transplanted into quail limb buds in ovo. Since quail cells are histologically distinguishable from chick cells the progress of myogenic cell movement 5 days after transplantation could be observed. In 10 out of 14 cases normal myogenic cells migrated extensively in a proximo-distal direction within the limb bud for the quail host. In contrast, only 2 out of 11 talpid3 transplants showed a moderate degree of distalwards movement.