Definition
The Notch pathway is one of the fundamental signalling mechanisms that mediates cell communication in a wide range of developmental processes throughout the animal kingdom (1, 2). It mediates communication between cells immediately adjacent to one another. The pathway was discovered and initially characterized in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, but has been found in all other animal systems, including nematodes and vertebrates. In vertebrates, Notch signalling is required in many developmental processes, including limb development, segmentation of the mesoderm, vasculogenesis and haematopoiesis. Furthermore, it is involved in several heritable diseases, such as Alagille syndrome and Cadasil disease (3, 4). In many tissues it also seems to act to promote oncogenesis, in some cases as an important mediator of oncogenic Ras. On the other hand, recent work suggests that the pathway acts as a tumour suppressor in the skin (4).
Earlier work in Drosophilashowed that loss...
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© 2005 Springer-Verlag
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Klein, T. (2005). Notch Pathway. In: Encyclopedic Reference of Genomics and Proteomics in Molecular Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-29623-9_3150
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-29623-9_3150
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44244-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-29623-2
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