McGlinn E, Tabin CJ. Mechanistic insight into how Shh patterns the vertebrate limb.
Curr Opin Genet Dev 2006;
16:426-32. [PMID:
16806898 DOI:
10.1016/j.gde.2006.06.013]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2006] [Accepted: 06/09/2006] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The hands and feet of a newborn baby are a beautiful reminder of the complexity of embryonic patterning. Classical studies on how these structures form have led to a theoretical framework for understanding, in general, how discrete groups of cells can instruct differential fates across a wider field through the action of long-range signals. The discovery just more than a decade ago that localized expression of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) differentially patterns structures across the limb field, resulting in digits with unique characteristics, provided a starting point for readdressing these models at a molecular level. Current research has revealed unexpected complexity in how a gradient of Shh activity is both established and received, prompting re-evaluation of the nature of patterning mechanisms within the limb.
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