title: The evolution of signalling pathways in animal development.
abstract: Despite the bewildering number of cell types and patterns found in the animal kingdom, only a few signalling pathways are required to generate them. Most cell-cell interactions during embryonic development involve the Hedgehog, Wnt, transforming growth factor-beta, receptor tyrosine kinase, Notch, JAK/STAT and nuclear hormone pathways. Looking at how these pathways evolved might provide insights into how a few signalling pathways can generate so much cellular and morphological diversity during the development of individual organisms and the evolution of animal body plans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Max-Planck-nstitut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Spemannstrasse 37-39, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pires-daSilva
authors.forename: Ralf J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D020440:Gene Duplication; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D019849:Sex Determination Processes; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic