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First published online July 25, 2008

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Dusting off BMP roles in feather development

In birds, various signalling pathways are implicated in the dermis-epidermis crosstalk that leads to feather morphogenesis. Among these is the BMP pathway, which is believed to inhibit feather formation, yet the evidence for it doing so is somewhat contradictory. On p. 2797, Michon and colleagues shed some light on this issue with their study and mathematical modelling of BMP signalling during feather formation in chicks. Their findings reveal that rather than acting just as inhibitors, different BMPs have distinct, sometimes antagonistic, roles in feather development. To distinguish these roles, the authors investigated the expression of BMP target genes and studied in vitro dermal fibroblast behaviour in response to different BMPs. From these and other findings, they generated a mathematical model - a reaction-diffusion model - that simulates feather patterning and accounts for the negative effects that excess BMP2 and BMP7 have on feather formation. From their results, the authors propose a new view of BMPs and dermis organisation that agrees with previous findings but not with their interpretation.

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Related articles in Development:

BMP2 and BMP7 play antagonistic roles in feather induction

Frederic Michon, Loïc Forest, Elodie Collomb, Jacques Demongeot, and Danielle Dhouailly
Development 2008 135: 2797-2805. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?