Editorial overviewFrom cells to organs: new insight into organ morphogenesis
Section snippets
Of chromatin structure, transcription networks and stem cells
One major level of regulation of cell fates and organ morphogenesis involves transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Whilst the early studies aimed mainly at isolating the so-called master regulators that would induce particular cell fates or developmental processes, more recent studies have begun to reveal the complexity of the transcriptional networks that control cell specification, survival and proliferation and organogenesis in general. The amazing complexity and importance of
The branching and budding of organogenesis
Branching and budding contribute to organogenesis to a large extent and their molecular and cellular basis has been the purpose of intense research in the past decades. Gerhardt and colleagues review the emerging important role of ligands of the Wnt family in vascular morphogenesis. These studies clearly demonstrate how complex the contribution of one signalling pathway can be during the development of a specific organ system and how important it is to analyse signalling both in time and space.
Still more lessons to be learnt from fruit flies
The Drosophila heart is morphologically rather different from the heart of vertebrates, but early genetic analyses revealed that some of the key genes controlling heart specification were conserved between invertebrates and vertebrates. Semeriva and colleagues make a strong point in their beautifully illustrated review that the fly heart is also a model to study molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac congenital malformation and disease in humans. The powerful genetic tools and screening
Outlook
It is immediately apparent from the reviews published in this issue that the regulation of most developmental processes is controlled by complex and integrative rather than simple and hierarchical interactions. As the underlying complexity is not revealed by analysing the interactions of single or few genes and pathways, developmental biology has to morph into developmental systems biology. At least some of the reviews in this issue indicate that this exciting transition is already under way.
Markus Affolter is professor of Developmental Biology at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. His lab has a long-standing interest in cell–cell signalling and organ morphogenesis, combining genetic, molecular and live imaging approaches. Current research focusses on Fgf and Bmp signalling, and on branching morphogenesis in the Drosophila trachea and the zebrafish vascular system.
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Scribble is required for normal epithelial cell-cell contacts and lumen morphogenesis in the mammalian lung
2013, Developmental BiologyCitation Excerpt :Organotypic cultures of Scrib morpholino treated lung cells also highlight the requirement for Scrib function in epithelial organization and lumen formation. Close epithelial cell–cell contacts, maintained by adherens and tight junctions, are critical for tubulogenesis and a pre-requisite for a correctly sized and positioned lumen at the centre of an airway (Affolter and Zeller, 2009; Andrew and Ewald, 2009; Morrisey and Hogan, 2010). Previous studies have shown co-localisation between Scrib and the junctional proteins β-catenin and E-cadherin, and Scrib has been shown to influence recruitment and localisation of adherens junction proteins in vitro (Kamei et al., 2007; Navarro et al., 2005; Sun et al., 2009).
Markus Affolter is professor of Developmental Biology at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. His lab has a long-standing interest in cell–cell signalling and organ morphogenesis, combining genetic, molecular and live imaging approaches. Current research focusses on Fgf and Bmp signalling, and on branching morphogenesis in the Drosophila trachea and the zebrafish vascular system.
Rolf Zeller is professor of Anatomy and Embryology in the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel. He is interested in the signalling interactions and underlying morpho-regulatory systems that orchestrate organogenesis in vertebrate embryos. In particular, his group is studying how epithelial–mesenchymal feedback signalling controls limb and kidney organogenesis by combining mouse genetics with experimental manipulation and modelling.