Making a vertebrate limb: new players enter from the wings.
What initiates vertebrate limb development and induces limbs to form where they do? For several years the answer to this intriguing question has been framed in terms of a working model that limb induction depends on a dialogue between two members of the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) family of intercellular signaling molecules, FGF8 and FGF10. Now, a recent paper has written roles for signals encoded by WNT genes, the vertebrate relatives of the Drosophila wingless gene, into the script.
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Department of Anatomy, Box 0452, University of California, Rm. S-1457, 513 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA. gmaartin@itsa.ucsf.edu
D000818:Animals; D005121:Extremities / Q000196:embryology*; D051526:Fibroblast Growth Factor 10; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000196:embryology; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins
D051526:Fibroblast Growth Factor 10; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors