Bmp signaling: turning a half into a whole.
In a famous experiment over a century ago, Hans Spemann demonstrated that amphibians have a remarkable ability to compensate for perturbations to the embryo. In this issue of Cell, Reversade and De Robertis (2005) uncover the basis of this phenomenon. They demonstrate that interactions between bone morphogenetic proteins (Bmps) and their inhibitors on both the dorsal and ventral sides of the early Xenopus embryo are involved in creating the body plan.
Kimelman
David
D
Department of Biochemistry, Box 357350, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. kimelman@u.washington.edu
Pyati
Ujwal J
UJ
D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D038681:Follistatin / Q000502:physiology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000502:physiology; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology*; D000099176:Noggin Protein
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D038681:Follistatin; D006023:Glycoproteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D000099176:Noggin Protein; C499591:admp protein, Xenopus; C121859:bambi-A protein, Xenopus; C109976:szl protein, Xenopus; C054234:chordin