Premium
Somitogenesis as a model to study the formation of morphological boundaries and cell epithelialization
Author(s) -
Takahashi Yoshiko,
Sato Yuki
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-169x.2008.01018.x
Subject(s) - somitogenesis , somite , morphogenesis , paraxial mesoderm , mechanism (biology) , biology , anatomy , microbiology and biotechnology , mesoderm , embryogenesis , embryo , genetics , physics , embryonic stem cell , quantum mechanics , gene
The formation of morphological boundaries between developing tissues is an integral mechanism for generating body forms and functions. For the molecular and cellular studies of how such morphological boundaries form, somitogenesis serves as a particularly good model. When an intersomitic boundary forms in the anterior end of the presomitic mesoderm, cells undergo dynamic behaviors including a separation of tissues and changes in cell shape from mesenchymal to epithelial. Moreover, these events occur repeatedly and periodically. We here overview the inductive events that have recently been shown to play important roles in the formation of the intersomitic fissures. We then discuss molecular mechanisms underlying these inductive actions, and also discuss how the fissure formation is interpreted by the subsequent morphogenesis, including cell epithelialization and the acquisition of anterior–posterior identities in the newly formed somite. Thus, somitogenesis provides a unique model to understand how sequentially occurring processes of morphogenesis are coordinated in a 3‐D environment.