The Stowers Institute’s Pourquié Lab has demonstrated the importance of Beta-catenin, a key component of the Wnt-signaling pathway in the process of somite formation. The work has been published on ...

The team analyzed the somite segmentation process that results in the formation of the vertebral column. This process is thought to be controlled by two components: a molecular oscillator (the ...

In vertebrates the repeated metameric pattern of the axial skeleton is evident early, demonstrated by the serially repeated segments known as somites. Somites are blocks of mesodermal tissue that ...

Segmentation is a key feature of many animals. New molecular studies add to our understanding of how vertebrate segments form and how this process is linked to the genes that make each segment unique.