Signalling pathways in trophic skeletal development and morphogenesis: Insights from studies on teleost fish

摘要

Duringthedevelopmentofthevertebratefeedingapparatus,avarietyofcomplicatedcellularandmolecularprocessesparticipateintheformationandintegrationofindividualskeletalelements.Themolecularmechanismsregulatingtheformationofskeletalprimordiaandtheirdevelopmentintospecificmorphologicalstructuresaretightlycontrolledbyasetofinterconnectedsignallingpathways.Someofthesepathways,suchasBmp,Hedgehog,NotchandWnt,arelongknownfortheirpivotalrolesincraniofacialskeletogenesis.Studiesaddressingthefunctionaldetailsoftheircomponentsanddownstreamtargets,themechanismsoftheirinteractionswithothersignalsaswellastheirpotentialrolesinadaptivemorphologicaldivergence,arecurrentlyattractingconsiderableattention.Anincreasingnumberofsignallingpathwaysthathadpreviouslybeendescribedindifferentbiologicalcontextshavebeenshowntobeimportantintheregulationofjawskeletaldevelopmentandmorphogenesis.Inthisreview,Iprovideanoverviewofsignallingpathwaysinvolvedintrophicskeletogenesisemphasizingstudiesofthemostspecies-richgroupofvertebrates,theteleostfish,whichthroughtheirevolutionaryhistoryhaveundergonerepeatedepisodesofspectaculartrophicdiversification./p/div