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Developmental biology

dHand in hand with Gli3

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 3, page 238 (2002)Cite this article

During limb development, Shh signalling from the posterior mesenchyme regulates Fgf expression in the apical ectodermal ridge, whereas the Fgfs maintain Shh expression in the zone of polarizing activity. But Gremlin, a molecule that relays the Shh signal, and the Fgfs have asymmetric expression even before Shh comes on, suggesting that the limb bud is prepatterned. To investigate this asymmetry, te Welscher and colleagues looked at a transcription factor, dHand, because it is required to establish Shh signalling and because its initially uniform expression becomes restricted to the posterior of the limb bud just before Shh activation — but how? The authors reasoned that answering this question would provide information about the earliest events in limb bud patterning.

Shh is repressed in the anterior of the limb bud by another transcription factor, Gli3. The authors found that, unlike in wild-type mice, dHand is expressed in the anterior mesenchyme of Gli3-deficient limbs, which suggests that dHand is repressed by Gli3. In the posterior limb bud mesenchyme, Gli3 is in turn repressed by dHand.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. te Welscher, P. et al. Mutual genetic antagonism involving GLI3 and dHAND prepatterns the vertebrate limb bud mesenchyme prior to SHH signalling. Genes Dev. 16, 421–426 (2002)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Capdevila, J. & Izpisua Belmonte, J. C. Patterning mechanisms controlling vertebrate limb development. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 17, 87–132 (2001)

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Authors
  1. Magdalena Skipper
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Vertebrate embryo: limb development

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Skipper, M. dHand in hand with Gli3. Nat Rev Genet 3, 238 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg789

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