Alterations of the Delta/Notch signalling pathway cause multiple morphogenetic abnormalities in somitogenesis, including defects in intersomitic boundary formation and failure in maintenance of somite regularity. Notch signalling has been implicated in establishing the anteroposterior polarity within maturing somites and in regulating the activity of a molecular segmentation clock operating in the presomitic mesoderm. The pleiotropy of Notch signalling obscures the roles of this pathway in different steps of somitogenesis. One possibility is that distinct Notch effectors mediate different aspects of Notch signalling. In this study,we focus on two zebrafish Notch-dependent hairy/Enhancer-of-split-related transcription factors, Her6 and Her4, which are expressed at the transition zone between presomitic mesoderm and the segmented somites. The results of overexpression/gain-of-function and of morpholino-mediated loss-of-function experiments show that Her6 and Her4 are Notch signalling effectors that feedback on the clock and take part in the maintenance of cyclic gene expression coordination among adjacent cells in the presomitic mesoderm.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about Development’s journey and highlights from some its first issues, and explore the history of each of our sister journals: Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology
In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
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