High impact information on LOC398047

• Xenopus blastula cells activate different mesodermal genes as a concentration-dependent response to activin, which behaves like a morphogen [1].
• To understand how cells recognize morphogen concentration, we have bound naturally labeled activin to cells and related this to choice of gene activation [1].
• During early Drosophila embryogenesis, several zygotic gene products act to establish a posttranscriptional activity gradient of the morphogen DPP [2].
• The specification and patterning of cell fates by a morphogen gradient is a unifying theme of developmental biology, yet little evidence exists for the presence of gradients in vivo or to show how such putative gradients form [3].
• Xbra therefore offers an excellent paradigm for studying the way in which a morphogen gradient is interpreted in vertebrate embryos [4].

Biological context of LOC398047

• Xenopus sonic hedgehog as a potential morphogen during embryogenesis and thyroid hormone-dependent metamorphosis [5].
• A quantitative analysis of signal transduction from activin receptor to nucleus and its relevance to morphogen gradient interpretation [6].
• However, removal of a single point from the morphogen cycle (cell death) did not result in any change [7].

Anatomical context of LOC398047

• Finally, we provide evidence that Sog functions as a diffusible morphogen in the blastoderm embryo [8].
• Sonic hedgehog (Shh) specifies the identity of both motor neurons (MNs) and interneurons with morphogen-like activity [9].
• Interestingly, inhibition of XPIASy by morpholinos induces elongation of animal caps with induction of mesoderm genes even in the absence of their morphogen-mediated activation [10].
• bFGF as a possible morphogen for the anteroposterior axis of the central nervous system in Xenopus [11].
• We describe the route of migration and fate of the neural crest and propose a new model of neural crest induction in which prospective cells are induced independently of the neural plate by a double gradient of a morphogen that patterns the entire ectoderm [12].

Associations of LOC398047 with chemical compounds

• This effect of retinoic acid, coupled with the known presence of retinoic acid in Xenopus embryos has led to the proposal that retinoic acid may be an endogenous morphogen providing positional information in early development [13].
• Taken together, our results are consistent with a model in which Wnt- or lithium-mediated signals can induce either mesodermal or ectodermal cells to produce a dominant posteriorizing morphogen which respecifies anterior neural tissue as posterior [14].
• The purpose of this study was to make an explicit test of the idea that a retinoid could act as a morphogen, differentially activating genes and specifying anteroposterior (a-p) level in the developing vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) [15].
• Although closely mimicked by retinoic acid (RA), this substance is probably not itself the morphogen [16].
• Immunohistochemical detection of serotonin is commonly used as a neuronal cell marker and to provide crucial information on serotonin's role as an embryonic morphogen [17].

Other interactions of LOC398047

• The results argue that Bmp-4 acts as a morphogen in dorsoventral patterning of mesoderm [18].
• A morphogen gradient of Wnt/beta-catenin signalling regulates anteroposterior neural patterning in Xenopus [19].
• Eomesodermin is an essential early gene in Xenopus mesoderm formation and shows a morphogen-like response to activin [20].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of LOC398047

• A recently described experimental system for analyzing the mode of action of a morphogen gradient involves the in situ hybridization of sectioned tissue constructs [21].
• We have used immunofluorescence to detect, at single cell resolution, a morphogen gradient formed across vertebrate tissue [22].

References