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Nature 426, 503-504 (4 December 2003) | doi:10.1038/426503a

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Developmental biology: Long-range signalling by touch

Stephen M. Cohen1

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In the developing sense organs of fruitflies, cells must signal instructions over long distances. But the signalling molecule is bound to the cell membrane, so how can it reach its targets? The answer, it seems, is by touch.

Cells communicate in many different ways during animal development. One of the best-known mechanisms involves the production and release of signalling proteins, which convey instructions over long distances about how cells should behave and what they should become.

  1. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
    Email: cohen@embl.de