title: Beta-catenin and axis formation in planarians.
abstract: In three recent articles it was shown that beta-catenin is crucial for the establishment and the maintenance of the overall polarity and especially for the character 'posterior' in planarians. If the transcription of the beta-catenin gene was silenced by RNA interference, the overall polarity is lost, and in regenerating fragments a posterior blastema displays anterior characters by forming eyes and anterior ganglia. An attempt is made to integrate these new data, well-known older observations, and observations from other regenerating systems into an outline of a model that will clarify our current understanding as well as highlight areas still to be developed.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Spemannstr. 35, D72076 Tübingen, Germany. hans.meinhardt@tuebingen.mpg.de
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meinhardt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006829:Hydra; D008954:Models, Biological; D010932:Planarians / Q000502:physiology*; D034622:RNA Interference; D012038:Regeneration; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051176:beta Catenin