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Nadine Dobrovolskaïa‐Zavadskaïa and the dawn of developmental genetics
Author(s) -
Korzh Vladimir,
Grunwald David
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.1052
Subject(s) - brachyury , biology , genetics , gene , developmental biology , mutant , chromosome , evolutionary biology , embryonic stem cell , mesoderm
In one of the first genetic screens aimed at identifying induced developmental mutants, Nadine Dobrovolskaïa‐Zavadskaïa, working at the Pasteur Laboratory in the 1920s, isolated and characterized a mutation affecting Brachyury , a gene that regulates tail and axial development in the mouse. Dobrovolskaïa‐Zavadskaïa's analysis of Brachyury and other mutations affecting tail development were among the earliest attempts to link gene action with a tissue‐specific developmental process in a vertebrate. Her analyses of genes that interacted with Brachyury led to the discovery of the t ‐haplotype chromosome of mouse. After 70 years, Brachyury and the multiple genes with which it interacts continue to occupy a prominent focus in developmental biology research. A goal of this review is to identify the contributions that Dobrovolskaïa‐Zavadskaïa made to our current thinking about Brachyury and how she helped to shape the dawn of the field of developmental genetics. BioEssays 23:365–371, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.