Heart formation provides an excellent model for studying the molecular basis of cell determination in vertebrate embryos. By combining molecular assays with the experimental approaches of classic embryology, a model for the cell signalling events that initiate cardiogenesis is emerging. Studies of chick, amphibian, and fish embryos demonstrate the inductive role of dorso-anterior endoderm in specifying the cardiac fate of adjacent mesoderm. A consequence of this signalling is the onset of cardiomyogenesis and several transcription factors--Nkx2-5-related, HAND, GATA and MEF-2 families--contribute to these events.
Journal article
1997-10-01T00:00:00+00:00
7
628 - 633
5
Amphibians, Animals, Body Patterning, Cell Differentiation, Chickens, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Embryonic Induction, Endoderm, Fishes, Heart, Mesoderm, Myocardium, Signal Transduction, Transcription Factors, Vertebrates