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The Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1495(363), p. 1387-1392, 2008

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2007.2256

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Understanding how morphogens work

Journal article published in 2008 by J. C. Smith ORCID, A. Hagemann, Y. Saka, P. H. Williams
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

In this article, we describe the mechanisms by which morphogens in the Xenopus embryo exert their long-range effects. Our results are consistent with the idea that signalling molecules such as activin and the nodal-related proteins traverse responding tissue not by transcytosis or by cytonemes but by movement through the extracellular space. We suggest, however, that additional experiments, involving real-time imaging of morphogens, are required for a real understanding of what influences signalling range and the shape of a morphogen gradient.