Activin signalling and response to a morphogen gradient
- 1 October 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 371 (6497) , 487-492
Abstract
Using combinations of amphibian embryo tissues, it is shown that the selection of genes expressed by a cell is determined by its distance from a source of activin, a peptide growth factor contained in vegetal cells and able to induce other cells to form mesoderm. This long-range signal spreads over at least 10 cell diameters in a few hours. It does so by passive diffusion, because it can by-pass cells that do not themselves respond to the signal nor synthesize protein. These results provide direct support for the operation of a morphogen concentration gradient in vertebrate development.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mesodermal patterning by an inducer gradient depends on secondary cell–cell communicationCurrent Biology, 1994
- Responses of embryonic xenopus cells to activin and FGF are separated by multiple dose thresholds and correspond to distinct axes of the mesodermCell, 1992
- Molecular nature of Spemann's organizer: the role of the Xenopus homeobox gene goosecoidCell, 1991
- Expression of a xenopus homolog of Brachyury (T) is an immediate-early response to mesoderm inductionCell, 1991
- Growth factors as morphogens: do gradients and thresholds establish body plan?Trends in Genetics, 1991
- Graded changes in dose of a Xenopus activin A homologue elicit stepwise transitions in embryonic cell fateNature, 1990
- Mix.1, a homeobox mRNA inducible by mesoderm inducers, is expressed mostly in the presumptive endodermal cells of Xenopus embryosCell, 1989
- Fates of the blastomeres of the 32-cell-stage Xenopus embryoDevelopmental Biology, 1987
- All components required for the eventual activation of muscle-specific actin genes are localized in the subequatorial region of an uncleaved amphibian egg.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1985
- The formation of the mesoderm in urodelean amphibiansWilhelm Roux' Archiv für Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen, 1969