Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Science Policy Alerts

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 24 February 2005
Science 22 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5721, pp. 563 - 566
DOI: 10.1126/science.1108363
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Retinoic Acid Controls the Bilateral Symmetry of Somite Formation in the Mouse Embryo

Julien Vermot,1*{dagger}{ddagger} Jabier Gallego Llamas,1* Valérie Fraulob,1 Karen Niederreither,2 Pierre Chambon,1 Pascal Dollé1{ddagger}

A striking characteristic of vertebrate embryos is their bilaterally symmetric body plan, which is particularly obvious at the level of the somites and their derivatives such as the vertebral column. Segmentation of the presomitic mesoderm must therefore be tightly coordinated along the left and right embryonic sides. We show that mutant mice defective for retinoic acid synthesis exhibit delayed somite formation on the right side. Asymmetric somite formation correlates with a left-right desynchronization of the segmentation clock oscillations. These data implicate retinoic acid as an endogenous signal that maintains the bilateral synchrony of mesoderm segmentation, and therefore controls bilateral symmetry, in vertebrate embryos.

1 Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP/Collège de France, BP 10142, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, Strasbourg, France.
2 Departments of Medicine and Molecular Biology, Center for Cardiovascular Development, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} Present address: Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dolle{at}igbmc.u-strasbg.fr (P.D.); julien{at}igbmc.u-strasbg.fr (J.V.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
FGF signaling acts upstream of the NOTCH and WNT signaling pathways to control segmentation clock oscillations in mouse somitogenesis.
M. B. Wahl, C. Deng, M. Lewandoski, and O. Pourquie (2007)
Development 134, 4033-4041
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Repressive Epigenetic Domino Effect Confers Susceptibility to Breast Epithelial Cell Transformation: Implications for Predicting Breast Cancer Risk.
G. Bistulfi, S. Pozzi, M. Ren, S. Rossetti, and N. Sacchi (2006)
Cancer Res. 66, 10308-10314
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Novel Cytochrome P450, Zebrafish Cyp26D1, Is Involved in Metabolism of All-trans Retinoic Acid.
X. Gu, F. Xu, W. Song, X. Wang, P. Hu, Y. Yang, X. Gao, and Q. Zhao (2006)
Mol. Endocrinol. 20, 1661-1672
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The left-right axis in the mouse: from origin to morphology.
H. Shiratori and H. Hamada (2006)
Development 133, 2095-2104
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Altered retinoid homeostasis catalyzed by a nicotine metabolite: Implications in macular degeneration and normal development.
A. P. Brogan, T. J. Dickerson, G. E. Boldt, and K. D. Janda (2005)
PNAS 102, 10433-10438
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Developmental regulation of the Hox genes during axial morphogenesis in the mouse.
J. Deschamps and J. van Nes (2005)
Development 132, 2931-2942
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)