A proposed mechanism for the interaction of the segmentation clock and the determination front in somitogenesis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent discoveries in the field of somitogenesis have confirmed, for the most part, the feasibility of the clock and wavefront model. There are good candidates for both the clock (various genes expressed cyclically in the tail bud of vertebrate embryos have been discovered) and the wavefront (there are at least three different substances, whose expression levels vary along the presomitic mesoderm [PSM], that have important effects on the formation of somites). Nevertheless, the mechanisms through which the wavefront interacts with the clock to arrest the oscillations and induce somite formation have not yet been fully elucidated.

Principal findings

In this work, we propose a gene regulatory network which is consistent with all known experimental facts in embryonic

SUBMITTER: Santillan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2216431 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature