Remodeling a Tissue: Subtraction Adds Insight

Jeffrey D. Axelrod^*

Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Abstract: Sculpting a body plan requires both patterning of gene expression and translating that pattern into morphogenesis. Developmental biologists have made remarkable strides in understanding gene expression patterning, but despite a long history of fascination with the mechanics of morphogenesis, knowledge of how patterned gene expression drives the emergence of even simple shapes and forms has grown at a slower pace. The successful merging of approaches from cell biology, developmental biology, imaging, engineering, and mathematical and computational sciences is now accelerating progress toward a fuller and better integrated understanding of the forces shaping morphogenesis.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: jaxelrod{at}stanford.edu

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