Early cardiac development: A Wnt beat away

摘要

Embryonic cell fate decisions require an integrated symphony of growth factors presented in a specific sequence and in discreet locations within the developing embryo. Because of species-specific organization of cellular topology in utero, growth factor regulation may differ among organisms. Accordingly, a better understanding of species-conserved growth factor requirements necessitates the need for precise modeling of cell differentiation and movement during construction of definitive embryonic tissues. Ideally, this model would allow control of growth factor production to experimentally dissect the relationship between growth factor signal and cell fate decision.