Many genes and their regulatory relationships are involved in developmental phenomena. However, by chemical information alone, we cannot fully understand changing organ morphologies through tissue growth because deformation and growth of the organ are essentially mechanical processes. Here, we develop a mathematical model to describe the change of organ morphologies through cell proliferation. ...

Limb-specific Shh expression is regulated by the (∼1 Mb distant) ZRS enhancer. In the mouse, limb bud-restricted spatiotemporal Shh expression occurs from ∼E10 to E11.5 at the distal posterior margin and is essential for correct autopod formation. Here, we have analysed the higher-order chromatin conformation of Shh in expressing and non-expressing tissues, both by fluorescence in situ hybridis...

Tissue from the posterior margin of the developing limb bud, when grafted to the anterior margin, evokes the formation of a mirror-image limb duplication from the host tissue. We present maps of the spatial and temporal distribution of this signalling activity in the chick wing bud based on a bioassay that provides a quantitative measure of the completeness of the additional structures (the str...

Patterning of the vertebrate limb along the anterior-posterior axis is controlled by the zone of polarizing activity (ZPA) located at the posterior limb margin. One of the vertebrate Hh family members, Shh, has been shown to be able to mediate the function of the ZPA. Several naturally occurring mouse mutations with the phenotype of preaxial polydactyly exhibit ectopic Shh expression at the ant...

Several 5' members of the Hoxd cluster are expressed in nested posterior-distal domains of the limb bud suggesting a role in regulating anteroposterior pattern of skeletal elements. While loss-of-function mutants have demonstrated a regulatory role for these genes in the developing limb, extensive functional overlaps between various different Hox genes has hampered elucidation of the roles play...

The chick limb bud is a powerful experimental system in which to study pattern formation in vertebrate embryos. Exogenously applied retinoic acid, a vitamin A derivative, can bring about changes in pattern and, on several grounds, is a good candidate for an endogenous morphogen. As such, the local concentration of retinoic acid might provide cells with information about their position in relati...

Type II procollagen mRNA has been partially purified from embryonic chick sternal cartilage by guanidine hydrochloride extraction, sucrose gradient sedimentation and Sepharose 4B chromatography. Double stranded cDNA was synthesized using AMV reverse transcriptase and E. coli DNA polymerase I, tailed using terminal transferase and inserted into the Pst I site of pBR322. Two putative type II proc...

Sonic hedgehog is expressed in several sites during embryogenesis which are known to be important in directing the development of neighbouring tissues, including Hensen's node, the notochord, the floor plate of the neural tube, and the posterior of the limb bud. A unity in signalling mechanisms utilized by these inducers was first indicated because they all can provide a source of limb polarizi...

Rat embryos, dissected from the uterus at 11 1/2 days' gestation, have been used to study the regenerative powers of the embryonic limb. One forelimb-bud of each embryo was amputated, via an incision in the membranes. Embryos were subsequently grown in roller-bottle cultures for 44 h, then examined histologically. Twenty-nine out of 32 healthy embryos had formed limb-bud regenerates, 14 of whic...

The presence of polarizing activity in the limb buds of developing avian embryos determines the pattern of the anteroposterior axis of the limbs in the adult. Maps of the spatial distribution and the strength of the signal within limb buds of different stages are well documented. Polarizing activity can also be found in Hensen's node in the early embryo. We have mapped the distribution of polar...