A gradient of Gli activity mediates graded Sonic Hedgehog signaling in the neural tube.

ABSTRACT: During development, many signaling factors behave as morphogens, long-range signals eliciting different cellular responses according to their concentration. In ventral regions of the spinal cord, Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) is such a signal and controls the emergence, in precise spatial order, of distinct neuronal subtypes. The Gli family of transcription factors plays a central role in this process. Here we demonstrate that a gradient of Gli activity is sufficient to mediate, cell-autonomously, the full range of Shh responses in the neural tube. The incremental two- to threefold changes in Shh concentration, which determine alternative neuronal subtypes, are mimicked by similar small changes in the level of Gli activity, indicating that a gradient of Gli activity represents the intracellular cor

SUBMITTER: Stamataki D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC551582 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature