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Developmental biology

Teeth in double trouble

Nature volume 455, pages 747–748 (2008)Cite this article

Almost all vertebrates have teeth of some sort. But where, in developmental terms, do teeth come from? Results drawn from experimental embryology provide an illuminating perspective on this contentious question.

Teeth are made of some of the hardest stuff in organic nature, and many fossil vertebrates are known only from their dental remains. So teeth are central for systematic classification and reconstruction of animal life-histories, not to mention forensic science, horror movies and musicals. But we know all too little about the earliest cellular and molecular events that initiate teeth and define their position, shape and patterns — a deficiency that Soukup et al. (page 795 of this issue1) have set out to remedy by first sorting out some basic embryology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgy Koentges is at the Systems Biology Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. g.koentges@warwick.ac.uk ,

    Georgy Koentges

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  1. Georgy Koentges
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Koentges, G. Teeth in double trouble. Nature 455, 747–748 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/455747a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/455747a

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