Cellular polarization is key to all cellular functions. Our perceptions, which are derived from our senses, depend on the proper cellular polarization of our sense organs, such as the eyes or ears. Much of this book examines the different aspects in cellular polarization and its researched role in the Drosophila, where the first planar cellular polarity (PCP) gene was discovered over 20 years ago. Topics also include: From flies to man: how we are polarized, Marking an embryo work, Cellular polarization at its functional best, Hearing and seeing your environment, and From a cell to an...

Extracellular matrix proteins are serious, common human diseases that are caused by mutations in genes that encode these proteins. This has spurred a great number of researchers to study the extracellular matrix, sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity. Much progress has been made in the last decade towards understanding what matrix proteins do and how cells interact with and respond to them. Volume 15 is a compilation of reviews by experts in their respective fields. The chapters in this book address the biology of a broad spectrum of extracellular matrix molecules and their...

A superb compilation of reviews from leading experts in the field of nuclear receptors, volume 16 in the Advances in Developmental Biology series covers the role of different nuclear receptor subfamilies in development, physiology and metabolism. This volume brilliantly reviews how genetic defects in the function of nuclear receptors leads to various developmental defects. Receptors discussed include: thyroid receptors, peroxisome proliferators activated receptors, and retinoic acid receptors. Additionaly, this volume offers an indespesable chapter on the orphan receptors Ftz-F1,...

A superb compilation of reviews from leading experts in the field of Wnt signaling (signaling molecules that regulate cell-to-cell interactions during embryogenesis), volume 17 in the Advances in Developmental Biology series offers 7 chapters, each devoted to a separate area of research on Wnt signaling. Written by specialists in the field, these chapters cover different levels of signaling, including: ligands, receptors, cytoplasmic and nuclear components of the pathway. This book discusses a number of model systems including mice, Drosophila, Xenopus, zebrafish, C. elegans, and...

Volume 4 of Advances in Developmental Biology and Biochemistry consists of five chapters that review specific aspects of fly and mammalian development. In Chapter 1, Y. Mishina and R. Behringer discuss various aspects of MUllerian-inhibiting substance (MIS) in mammals, from a brief history of its discovery to recent studies of the MIS gene in transgenic and knock-out animals. In Chapter 2, C. Rushlow and S. Roth discuss the role of the dpp-group genes in dorsoventral patterning of the Drosophila embryo. In Chapter 3, M. Yip and H. Lipshitz discuss the terminal (asegmental...

This series provides annual reviews of research topics in developmental biology/biochemistry, written from the perspectives of leading investigators in these fields. This volume of Advances in Developmental Biochemistry consists of seven chapters that review specific aspects of development in several different organisms including mollusks, flies and mice.