Abstract
DEVELOPMENTAL genetics has shown that the Brachyury (T) gene has a key role in mesoderm formation during gastrulation in the mouse1,2. Homozygous embryos (Fig. 1) have a defective allantois, degenerate or absent notochord and disrupted primitive streak and node. The neural tube is kinked and somite formation interrupted3–6. The T gene has been cloned7 and is expressed during the early stages of gastrulation, being restricted to the primitive streak region, nascent mesoderm and notochord8. Neither the sequence of the gene nor its expression pattern define its developmental function7,9. To study the cell autonomy of the T mutation we have isolated and genetically characterized embryonic stem cell lines and studied their behaviour in chimaeras. T/+ embryonic stem cells form normal chimaeras, whereas T/T↔+/+ chimaeras mimic the T/T mutant phenotype. The results indicate that the T gene acts cell autonomously in the primitive streak and notochord but may activate a signalling pathway involved in the specification of other mesodermal tissues.
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Rashbass, P., Cooke, L., Herrmann, B. et al. A cell autonomous function of Brachyury in T/T embryonic stem cell chimaeras. Nature 353, 348–351 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/353348a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/353348a0
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