On growth and form: a Cartesian coordinate system of Wnt and BMP signaling specifies bilaterian body axes
Abstract
The regulation of body axis specification in the common ancestor of bilaterians remains controversial. BMP signaling appears to be an ancient program for patterning the secondary, or dorsoventral, body axis, but any such program for the primary, or anteroposterior, body axis is debated. Recent work in invertebrates indicates that posterior Wnt/β-catenin signaling is such a mechanism and that it evolutionarily predates the cnidarian-bilaterian split. Here, I argue that a Cartesian coordinate system of positional information set up by gradients of perpendicular Wnt and BMP signaling is conserved in bilaterians, orchestrates body axis patterning and contributes to both the relative invariance and diversity of body forms.
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Basic positional information is organized in bilaterians in a Cartesian coordinate system.
“basic positional information, which is organized in bilaterians in a Cartesian coordinate system26”
From Sequential actions of β-catenin and Bmp pattern the oral nerve net in Nematostella vectensis (2014) · cites this paper as [26]
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References 178 · Cited by 283
- Authors
- Niehrs, C.
- Affiliations
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Niehrs, Christof
- ORCID
- Niehrs, Christof
- Venue
- Development
- Publisher
- The Company of Biologists
- Published
- 2010-03-15
- Volume
- 137
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 845-857
- ISSN
- 0950-1991 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-9129
- OpenAlex
- W2161820726
- Semantic Scholar
- 9a035f820eb54411aae6c93a14b3ab38dcd70d2b
- Cited by
- 283
- References
- 178
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 2.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Keywords
- Wnt/β-catenin signaling, BMP signaling, anterior-posterior axis, dorsal-ventral axis, bilaterian evolution, positional information, signaling gradients, Cartesian coordinates, morphological diversity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Chordata, Nonvertebrate, Cnidaria, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Models, Biological, Models, Theoretical, Phylogeny, Signal Transduction, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Evolution, Molecular, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, Body Patterning, Growth and Development, Wnt Proteins
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