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Developmental biology

Tail of decay

Nature volume 427, pages 403–404 (2004)Cite this article

Humans and other vertebrates develop in a head-to-tail sequence. A mechanism that is based on a gradual decay of RNA appears to contribute to this process.

The thousands of different cell types in the vertebrate body are arranged in a complex but reproducible pattern. The underlying blueprint develops in the embryo, when initially naive cells mature and specialize according to their position. In recent years, it has become clear that positional information is often provided by the graded distribution of signals1,2. Depending on their location in the gradient, cells are exposed to different concentrations of the signal and differentiate in a dose-dependent way. But how do these gradients form? On page 419 of this issue, Dubrulle and Pourquié3 describe one mechanism. In the growing embryo, cells at the tip of the tail produce a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule that codes for a protein signal; as cells move away from the tip, the levels of mRNA gradually decay. The resulting gradient is thought to regulate the maturation of cells.

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Figure 1: Head-to-tail somite development in vertebrates.

References

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  1. the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine and in the Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, 540 First Avenue, New York, 10016, New York, USA

    Alexander F. Schier

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  1. Alexander F. Schier
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Schier, A. Tail of decay. Nature 427, 403–404 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/427403a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/427403a

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