The chick somitogenesis oscillator is arrested before all paraxial mesoderm is segmented into somites.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Somitogenesis is the earliest sign of segmentation in the developing vertebrate embryo. This process starts very early, soon after gastrulation has initiated and proceeds in an anterior-to-posterior direction during body axis elongation. It is widely accepted that somitogenesis is controlled by a molecular oscillator with the same periodicity as somite formation. This periodic mechanism is repeated a specific number of times until the embryo acquires a defined specie-specific final number of somites at the end of the process of axis elongation. This final number of somites varies widely between vertebrate species. How termination of the process of somitogenesis is determined is still unknown.

Results

Here we show that during development there is an imbalance betwe

SUBMITTER: Tenin G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2836991 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature