20/27 December 2001

Signalling: Facial development in the embryo

Embryo perturbation experiments have so far revealed little about the events behind face patterning. A new study shows that a vitamin A derivative and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) work together to cause cells to form the centre of the face (nasal septum) rather than the side (maxilla). The combination of blocking BMP signalling and increasing retinoic acid levels in chicken embryos transforms the maxillary prominence into a second frontonasal mass, thereby duplicating the upper beak. This suggests that small changes in the concentration of secreted signals such as growth factors and morphogens control the identity of facial prominences.

Noggin and retinoic acid transform the identity of avian facial prominences
S.-H. LEE, K. K. FU, J. N. HUI & J. M. RICHMAN
Nature 414, 909–912 (20/27 December 2001)
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