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Fearlessly tackling the organizer

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 12, page 282 (2011)Cite this article

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These papers were the first steps of a formidable challenge: understanding how the Spemann organizer builds the vertebrate body.

“What should I read?” is the classic question I receive from new undergraduates entering the laboratory. Last time, I opted for three old papers that profoundly influenced me during my postdoctoral studies in the late 1990s. These papers were the first steps of a formidable challenge: understanding how the Spemann organizer builds the vertebrate body. I recommended these papers not out of nostalgia, but because they still remind me that fearlessness in exploring the biological power of genes and elegance in experimental design are key to tackling daring biological questions — as is faith that simple solutions may be found for what was deemed impossible.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Smith, W. C. & Harland, R. M. Expression cloning of noggin, a new dorsalizing factor localized to the Spemann organizer in Xenopus embryos. Cell 70, 829–840 (1992)

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  2. Sasai, Y. et al. Regulation of neural induction by the Chd and Bmp-4 antagonistic patterning signals in Xenopus. Nature 376, 333–336 (1995)

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  3. Ferguson, E. L. & Anderson, K. V. Localized enhancement and repression of the activity of the TGF-β family member, decapentaplegic, is necessary for dorsal-ventral pattern formation in the Drosophila embryo. Development 114, 583–597 (1992)

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FURTHER READING

  1. De Robertis, E. M. Spemann's organizer and the self-regulation of embryonic fields. Mech. Dev. 126, 925–941 (2009)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnologies, Section of Histology and Embryology, University of Padua, viale Colombo 3, 35100 Padua, Italy.

    Stefano Piccolo

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  1. Stefano Piccolo
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Piccolo, S. Fearlessly tackling the organizer. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 12, 282 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3102

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