title: Cell adhesion in development: a complex signaling network.
abstract: Cell-adhesion molecules play a major role in morphogenesis and organogenesis. In vertebrates, a significant fraction of genes encode cell-adhesion molecules. Multiple signal-transduction pathways have been described that modulate the adhesion process. These pathways have been studied in great detail for cadherins and integrins - two major adhesion systems controlling cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions. Recent findings confirm that a given cell-adhesion molecule can be implicated at different stages of development in processes as diverse as cell positioning, tissue patterning and compartmentalization, axon guidance and synaptogenesis. Clearly, a wide variety of new biophysical techniques and genomic approaches will permit analysis of the roles of adhesive interactions in development to be addressed with far greater precision.
authors.affiliation: Unit Mixte de Recherche, 144 Centre National Recherche Scientifique, Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 cedex 05, France. jpthiery@curie.fr
authors.forename: Jean Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Thiery
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000502:physiology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000196:embryology; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology; D019041:L-Selectin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008648:Mesoderm; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000196:embryology; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D019041:L-Selectin