Access

News and Views

Nature 418, 737-739 (15 August 2002) | doi:10.1038/418737a

Developmental biology: Signalling legacies

Richard S. Mann1 & Fernando Casares2

Top

Until now, the signals that control the development of the legs in insects and vertebrates have been thought to be different. But new work reveals similarities, which might have evolutionary implications.

We live in a three-dimensional world and, not surprisingly, the development of many animals — including ourselves — depends on the establishment of three body axes. Two of these, the head-to-tail (anterior–posterior) and back-to-front (dorsal–ventral) axes, are established in the egg before fertilization or, in some cases, as an immediate result of fertilization.