© 2010 • 308 pp., illus., index
Hardcover • $135 33.75 • ISBN  978-0-879698-81-2
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Signaling by diffusible morphogens, such as Hedgehog, Wingless, TGF-β, and various growth factors, is essential during embryogenesis. The establishment of concentration gradients of these morphogens is vital for developmental patterning, ensuring that distinct differentiated cell types appear in the right place and at the right time in forming tissues.

Written and edited by experts in the field, this volume explores how morphogen gradients are generated and interpreted during development. The contributors examine the regulation of morphogen synthesis, trafficking, and diffusion, as well as the complex webs of signaling mechanisms and transcriptional responses in recipient cells — whose fates are dictated by these morphogens. Including discussion of the roles of morphogen gradients in various tissues in organisms from yeast to humans, the volume is a vital reference for developmental biologists and cell biologists wishing to know how cell fate is determined during embryogenesis.

Preface

Morphogen Gradient Formation

Ortrud Wartlick, Anna Kicheva, and Marcos González-Gaitán

Models for the Generation and Interpretation of Gradients

Hans Meinhardt

Robust Generation and Decoding of Morphogen Gradients

Naama Barkai and Ben-Zion Shilo

The Measure of Success: Constraints, Objectives, and Tradeoffs in Morphogen-mediated Patterning

Arthur D. Lander, Wing-Cheong Lo, Qing Nie, and Frederic Y.M. Wan

Shaping Morphogen Gradients by Proteoglycans

Dong Yan and Xinhua Lin

Forming and Interpreting Gradients in the Early Xenopus Embryo

James C. Smith

Systems Biology of the Self-regulating Morphogenetic Gradient of the Xenopus Gastrula

Jean-Louis Plouhinec and E.M. De Robertis

Nodal Morphogens

Alexander F. Schier

Gradients in Planarian Regeneration and Homeostasis

Teresa Adell, Francesc Cebriò, and Emili Saló

Axial Patterning in Hydra

Hans R. Bode

Regulation of Organ Growth by Morphogen Gradients

Gerald Schwank and Konrad Basler

Signaling Gradients during Paraxial Mesoderm Development

Alexander Aulehla and Olivier Pourquié

Vertebrate Limb Development: Moving from Classical Morphogen Gradients to an Integrated 4-Dimensional Patterning System

Jean-Denis Bénazet and Rolf Zeller

Establishing and Interpreting Graded Sonic Hedgehog Signaling during Vertebrate Neural Tube Patterning: The Role of Negative Feedback

Vanessa Ribes and James Briscoe

Gradients in the Brain: The Control of the Development of Form and Function in the Cerebral Cortex

Stephen N. Sansom and Frederick J. Livesey

Graded Dorsal and Differential Gene Regulation in the Drosophila Embryo

Gregory T. Reeves and Angelike Stathopoulos

Gradients and the Specification of Planar Polarity in the Insect Cuticle

David Strutt

Chemical Gradients and Chemotropism in Yeast

Robert A. Arkowitz

Forming Patterns in Development without Morphogen Gradients: Scattered Differentiation and Sorting Out

Robert R. Kay and Christopher R.L. Thompson

Index