Coquillette, a sea urchin T-box gene of the Tbx2 subfamily, is expressed asymmetrically along the oral-aboral axis of the embryo and is involved in skeletogenesis

Transcription factors of the T-domain family regulate many developmental processes. We have isolated from the sea urchin a new member of the Tbx2 subfamily: coquillette. Coquillette has a late zygotic expression whose localization is dynamic: at the blastula stage it is restricted to the aboral side of most of the presumptive ectoderm and endoderm territories and from gastrulation on, to the aboral-most primary mesenchyme cells. Perturbation of coquillette function delays gastrulation and strongly disorganizes the skeleton of the larva. Coquillette is sensitive to alteration of the oral-aboral (OA) axis and we identify goosecoid, which controls oral and aboral fates in the ectoderm, as a probable upstream regulator. Coquillette appears to be an integral part of the patterning system along the OA axis.