RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Fgf/MAPK signalling is a crucial positional cue in somite boundary formation
JF Development
JO Development
FD The Company of Biologists Limited
SP 4873
OP 4880
VO 128
IS 23
A1 Sawada, Atsushi
A1 Shinya, Minori
A1 Jiang, Yun-Jin
A1 Kawakami, Atsushi
A1 Kuroiwa, Atsushi
A1 Takeda, Hiroyuki
YR 2001
UL http://dev.biologists.org/content/128/23/4873.abstract
AB The temporal and spatial regulation of somitogenesis requires a molecular oscillator, the segmentation clock. Through Notch signalling, the oscillation in cells is coordinated and translated into a cyclic wave of expression of hairy-related and other genes. The wave sweeps caudorostrally through the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) and finally arrests at the future segmentation point in the anterior PSM. By experimental manipulation and analyses in zebrafish somitogenesis mutants, we have found a novel component involved in this process. We report that the level of Fgf/MAPK activation (highest in the posterior PSM) serves as a positional cue within the PSM that regulates progression of the cyclic wave and thereby governs the positions of somite boundary formation.