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Nature 442, 363-364 (27 July 2006) | doi:10.1038/442363a; Published online 26 July 2006

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Developmental biology: The hole picture

Keith Mostov1 & Fernando Martin-Belmonte1

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What's the best way to make a tube? Roll up a sheet? Hollow out a solid rod? Some innovative movies show how the problem is tackled during the development of blood vessels in embryos.

In simple organisms, only one or a few cells thick, diffusion brings nutrients and oxygen to individual cells and removes their waste. But in larger animals, this process is no longer sufficient, so transport tubes evolved to allow materials to move quickly throughout the organism.

  1. Keith Mostov and Fernando Martin-Belmonte are in the Departments of Anatomy, and Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-2140, USA.
    Email: Keith.Mostov@ucsf.edu

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