Spicules - mineralised rods that constitute the sea urchin skeleton - form from a small number of primary mesenchymal cells (PMCs). During gastrulation,these PMCs locate along the ectodermal wall in a stereotypical pattern that determines skeletal morphology. As yet unknown guidance cues from the ectoderm are thought to control PMC positioning. VEGF/VEGFR signalling between the ectoderm and PMCs is now shown by Christian Gache's lab on p. 2293 to be the missing link that directs PMC migration and, thus, skeletal morphology. While VEGFR is expressed in PMCs, its ligand, VEGF, is expressed in the overlying ventrolateral ectoderm. Impaired VEGFR signalling perturbs PMC positioning(and spicules subsequently don't form), whereas VEGF overexpression results in skeletal abnormalities. Ectopically expressing VEGF in embryos in which endogenous VEGF expression is blocked restores spicule formation. These and other findings reveal that localized VEGF acts as both a guidance cue and differentiation signal, providing a crucial link between the positioning and differentiation of PMCs and embryonic skeletal morphogenesis.
VEGF to the bones
VEGF to the bones. Development 15 June 2007; 134 (12): e1203. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.