Heterodimers reign in the embryo

Azerbaijan in the Reign of Hulagu

Representation of Tehran during Qajar reign (Naseri period) in French travelers’ travel journals

Travel journals from different historical periods contain valuable insights that could be analyzed from different aspects and through that we can understand other people’s points of view about us. Description of different cities in travel literature represents French travelers’ views about these cities besides informing us about the quality and quantity of those cities at the times. “Represen...

The Assyrian Itineraries in the Zagros during the reign of Sargon II (6th and 8th campaigns) and the question about the correlation between Toponymy and Geography

Among the many Assyrian written sources and inscriptions some texts report the military expeditions of the kings of Assyria. These accounts, the so-called Itineraries texts, describe in details the different stops of the armies through territories outside the Assyrian heartland. With regard to the Zagros area, the reports mention different long and ruthless campaigns undertaken by some Assyrian...

Facilitated Transport of a Dpp/Scw Heterodimer by Sog/Tsg Leads to Robust Patterning of the Drosophila Blastoderm Embryo

Patterning the dorsal surface of the Drosophila blastoderm embryo requires Decapentaplegic (Dpp) and Screw (Scw), two BMP family members. Signaling by these ligands is regulated at the extracellular level by the BMP binding proteins Sog and Tsg. We demonstrate that Tsg and Sog play essential roles in transporting Dpp to the dorsal-most cells. Furthermore, we provide biochemical and genetic evid...

Ventral mesoderm induction and patterning by bone morphogenetic protein heterodimers in Xenopus embryos

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) perform diverse functions in vertebrate development. Here we demonstrate that the heterodimeric BMP-4/7 protein directly induces ventral mesoderm and blood in Xenopus animal caps, and BMP-2/7 heterodimers may function similarly. We also provide indirect evidence that BMP heterodimers function in embryos, using assays with dominant-negative BMP ligands. Homodim...