Morpheus Unbound: Reimagining the Morphogen Gradient
Open accessAbstract
The theory that the spatial organization of cell fate is orchestrated by gradients of diffusing molecules was a major contribution to 20th century developmental biology. Although the existence of morphogens is no longer in doubt, studies on the formation and function of their gradients have yielded far more puzzles than answers. On close inspection, every morphogen gradient seems to use a rich array of regulatory mechanisms, suggesting that the tasks carried out by such systems are far more extensive than previously thought.
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A lone morphogen is not sufficient to explain developmental patterning.
“The existence of this regulation is not surprising, as physical arguments show that a lone morphogen is not sufficient to explain developmental patterning (Lander 2007;Jaeger et al. 2008).”
From Graded dorsal and differential gene regulation in the Drosophila embryo. (2009) · cites this paper as Lander 2007
Cites
DORSAL-VENTRAL PATTERNING AND NEURAL INDUCTION IN <i>XENOPUS</i> EMBRYOS
De Robertis, E. M., & Kuroda, H. (2004) · Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.1146/annurev.cellbio.20.011403.154124 · Cited by 671 · see citing works
The Interpretation of Position in a Morphogen Gradient as Revealed by Occupancy of Activin Receptors
Dyson, S., & Gurdon, J. B. (1998) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81185-x · Cited by 204 · see citing works
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Biomolecular gradients in cell culture systems
Keenan, T. M., & Folch, A. (2008) · Lab Chip · doi:10.1039/b711887b · Cited by 596 · see citing works
The RanGTP gradient—a GPS for the mitotic spindle
Kalab, P., & Heald, R. (2008) · Journal of Cell Science · doi:10.1242/jcs.005959 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
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Houlton, J., Abumaria, N., Hinkley, S. F. R., & Clarkson, A. N. (2019) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00790 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Graded dorsal and differential gene regulation in the Drosophila embryo.
Reeves, G. T., & Stathopoulos, A. (2009) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a000836 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Jaeger, J., Irons, D., & Monk, N. (2008) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.018697 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lander, A. D.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lander, Arthur D.
- ORCID
- Lander, Arthur D.
- Venue
- Cell
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-01
- Volume
- 128
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 245-256
- ISSN
- 0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2017116537
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 3.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (vor, 2389 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Cell (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM066051, R01GM067247, GM66051, GM067247)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-38761, P01HD038761)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
- Keywords
- morphogen gradients, morphogens, cell fate specification, spatial patterning, developmental regulation, morphogen signaling
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Diffusion, Embryo, Mammalian, Humans, Models, Biological, Morphogenesis, Signal Transduction, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Body Patterning, Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Systems Biology
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