Abstract
The roof plate is an embryonic organizing centre that occupies the dorsal midline of the vertebrate neural tube. During early CNS development, the roof plate produces secreted factors, which control the specification and differentiation of dorsal neuronal cell types. An appreciation of the signalling properties of the roof plate has prompted an enhanced interest in this important organizing centre, and several recent studies have begun to illuminate the molecular mechanisms of roof plate development.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to A. Lindgren, I. Grinberg, C. Logan and E. Steshina for helpful discussion of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Brain Research Foundation and the Whitehall Foundation.
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Chizhikov, V., Millen, K. Mechanisms of roof plate formation in the vertebrate CNS. Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 808–812 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1520
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