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Nature 411, 255-256 (17 May 2001) | doi:10.1038/35077199

Open Innovation Challenges

Developmental biology: Making head or tail of Dickkopf

Roel Nusse

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Signals that guide embryonic cells through development are often under the control of inhibitors. It now seems that one such inhibitor does not bind to the signal itself, but rather to the receptor that detects the signal.

A typical cell's network of signal-transduction pathways has so many molecular interactions that it looks like a complex wiring diagram. Recently, it has become clear that signalling events outside the cell can be equally elaborate, with many different components that bind to each other and act as positive or negative regulators of signalling.