Adhesion Molecules-28

Advances and Experimental-3

Aging-9

Agricultural Biotechnology-37

Angiogenesis-29

Antisense-4

Apoptosis-49

Atherosclerosis-12

Autoimmunity-69

Bacterial Virulence-18

Bioinformatics-13

BioMaterials-18

Biosurfactants-1

Biotechnology-100

Cancer Genetics-25

Cancer Metastasis-19

Cell Biology-16

Cell Cycle-34

Cell Metabolism-327

Channels and Transporters-79

Chaperones-11

Circadian Rhythms-13

Coagulation-14

Cytokines/Growth Factors-52

Development-223

DNA-56

DNA Surveillance and Repair-42

Drug Design-17

Endocrine-66

Evolution-33

Extracellular Matrix-30

Gastroenterology-52

Gene Expression-178

Gene Therapy-53

Heart-61

Heat Shock Proteins-19

Hematology-11

Immunology-93

Infectious Disease-71

Ischemia-Reperfusion-33

Leptin and Leptin Antagonists-1

Medical-22

MHC-17

Mitochondria-17

Molecular Biology-20

Molecular Complexes and Signaling-1

Nanomedicine-30

Neurodegenerative Disease-72

Neuropharmacology-112

Neuroscience-38

Nucleus-15

Oncogenes-8

Oncology-87

Parasitic Disease-12

Pharmacogenomics-14

Prebiotic Evolution-6

Protein-12

Reproductive Biology-60

RNA-152

Signal Transduction-186

Stem Cells-80

Surgery-37

T-Cell Activation-12

Tissue Engineering-116

Transplant-51

Vaccines-82

Viruses-85

Chapter category: Development

Genetic Analysis of Somite Formation in Laboratory Fish Models

Chapter authors:
Christoph Winkler and Harun Elmasri

The repeated appearance of somites is one of the most fascinating aspects of vertebrate embryogenesis. Recent studies identified complex regulatory circuits that provide the molecular basis for the “clock and wave front” model, postulated almost 30 years ago by Cooke and Zeeman. The highly coordinated process of somite formation involves several networks of molecular cascades including the Delta/Notch, Wnt, FGF and retinoid signalling pathways. Studies in mouse, Xenopus and especially chicken over the last decade have helped to understand the role and interactions of these pathways in somitogenesis. More recently, this has been supplemented by experiments in zebrafish. This animal model offers the possibility of performing large scale mutagenesis screens to identify novel factors and pathways involved in somitogenesis. Molecular cloning of zebrafish somite mutants mainly resulted in genes that belong to the Delta/Notch pathway and therefore underlined the importance of this pathway during somitogenesis. The fact that other pathways have not yet been identified by genetic screening in this species was assumed to be caused by functional redundancy of duplicated genes in zebrafish. In 2000, a large‑scale mutagenesis screen has been initiated in Kyoto, Japan using the related teleost medaka (Oryzias latipes). In this screen, mutants with unique phenotypes have been identified, which have not been described in zebrafish or mouse. In this chapter, we will review the progress that has been made in understanding the molecular control of somite formation in zebrafish and will discuss recent efforts to screen for novel phenotypes using medaka somitogenesis mutants.

Christoph Winkler
Department of Physiological Chemistry I Biocenter, University of Wuerzberg; and, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore

Harun Elmasri
Department of Physiological Chemistry I Biocenter, University of Wuerzberg; and, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

» Access chapter for $19

Additional chapters from this book: