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Straight or split: signals to transcription

Nature Cell Biology volume 3, pages E155–E156 (2001)Cite this article

Since the discovery of substances in serum media that are able to drive cells into proliferation and/or differentiation, investigators have tried to understand how such signalling molecules can influence cells to change their behaviour. The complex nature of the responses to signals, and the equally complex signalling pathway leading to those responses, have made life difficult for the researcher. However, recent evidence obtained in genetic developmental systems indicates that a multiplicity of downstream events can be accomplished by regulation of the activity of just one transcription factor.

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Figure 1: Drawing showing the various forms of Cubitus interruptus protein (Ci) present as transcriptional regulators of hedgehog (hh) target genes.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Jennie Brown for helpful comments on my writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Anatomy and Genetics, MRC Functional Genetics Unit, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QX, UK

    Marcel van den Heuvel

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  1. Marcel van den Heuvel
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van den Heuvel, M. Straight or split: signals to transcription. Nat Cell Biol 3, E155–E156 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35083101

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