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Nodal signalling in vertebrate development

Nature volume 403, pages 385–389 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Communication between cells during early embryogenesis establishes the basic organization of the vertebrate body plan. Recent work suggests that a signalling pathway centering on Nodal, a transforming growth factor β-related signal, is responsible for many of the events that configure the vertebrate embryo. The activity of Nodal signals is regulated extracellularly by EGF-CFC cofactors and antagonists of the Lefty and Cerberus families of proteins, allowing precise control of mesoderm and endoderm formation, the positioning of the anterior–posterior axis, neural patterning and left–right axis specification.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of Nodal signalling activities in frog, fish and mouse embryos before gastrulation.
Figure 2: The putative Nodal signalling pathway.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Abate-Shen, R. Burdine, K. Gritsman, D. Kimelman, D. Reinberg, D. Rifkin, D. Ron, W. Talbot, E. White and A. Zychlinski for comments on the manuscript. Only a partial reference list is included owing to space constraints. The authors are supported by grants from the NIH (A.F.S., M.M.S.) and the US Army Breast Cancer Research Program (M.M.S.). A.F.S. is a Scholar of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience.

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  1. Department of Cell Biology, Developmental Genetics Program Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, 10016, New York , USA

    Alexander F. Schier

  2. Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 679 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, 108854, New Jersey, USA

    Michael M. Shen

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Correspondence to Alexander F. Schier.

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Schier, A., Shen, M. Nodal signalling in vertebrate development. Nature 403, 385–389 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35000126

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