First published online December 17, 2003
Development 131, 102e (2004)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
The tail-end of development
Formation of the posterior of the vertebrate body involves cell movements
like those that shape the anterior body during gastrulation, as well as cell
movements that are posterior specific. Some of the genes needed for tail
formation have previously been identified. Now, on
p. 203, Marlow et al.
propose that the transcription factor encoded by no tail
(ntl; the zebrafish homologue of mouse brachyury) and
components of the non-canonical Wnt pathway - encoded by pipetail
(ppt) and knypek (kny) - function in parallel,
partly redundant pathways to regulate the cell movements underlying posterior
body formation in zebrafish. The double mutants kny;ntl and
ppt;ntl both exhibit synergistic posterior trunk and tail
shortening that the researchers show is not due to impaired posterior mesoderm
specification and patterning, decreased proliferation, or apoptosis. Instead,
convergence and extension cell movements, which also operate in gastrulation,
and tailbud-specific subduction movements are all impaired in the double
mutants.
Related articles in Development:
- No tail co-operates with non-canonical Wnt signaling to regulate posterior body morphogenesis in zebrafish
- Florence Marlow,, Encina M. Gonzalez,,, Chunyue Yin, Concepcion Rojo, and Lilianna Solnica-Krezel,
Development 2004 131: 203-216.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
