Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 12 December 2006
Vol. 2006, Issue 365, p. tw421
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.3652006tw421]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Developmental Biology From Oscillations to Patterning

Beverly Purnell

Science, AAAS, Washington, DC 20005, USA

During early vertebrate development, blocks of mesodermal tissue, somites, are laid down on either side of the notochord in a periodic fashion following rhythmic waves of gene expression in the presomitic mesoderm. The somites subsequently give rise to skeletal muscle, axial skeleton, and part of the dermis. Dequéant et al. use a systematic analysis of genes expressed in the presomitic mesoderm over time. Oscillations of the fibroblast growth factor and Notch pathways alternated with components of the Wnt pathway, which suggests that an antagonism between these signaling pathways leads to the generation of phased somites.

M.-L. Dequéant, E. Glynn, K. Gaudenz, M. Wahl, J. Chen, A. Mushegian, O. Pourquié, A complex oscillating network of signaling genes underlies the mouse segmentation clock. Science 314, 1595-1598 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: B. Purnell, From Oscillations to Patterning. Sci. STKE 2006, tw421 (2006).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882