Patterning of the Vertebrate Head in Time and Space by BMP Signaling

How head patterning is regulated in vertebrates yet to be understood. In this study, we show that frog embryos injected with Noggin at different blastula and gastrula stages had their development sequentially arrested positions. When timed BMP inhibition was applied BMP-overexpressing embryos, the expression of five genes: xcg-1 (a marker cement gland, which front-most structure embryo), six3 forebrain marker), otx2 mid-brain gbx2 (an anterior hindbrain hoxd1 posterior marker) were fixed. These results suggest vertebrate patterned from a progressive fashion may involve actions signaling.