Electrical Coupling across Developmental Boundaries in Insect Epidermis (original) (raw)

Nature volume 245, pages 47–48 (1973)Cite this article

Abstract

THE polarity of the surface folds on the abdominal cuticle of the insect Rhodnius which normally run at right angles to the antero-posterior axis, is controlled by the underlying epidermal cells. When portions of integument are transplanted or rotated the epidermal cells produce surface folds the orientation of which shows that the cells “remember”, at least to some extent, their original polarity1,2. Such experiments also suggest that the cells have access to information which defines the spatial pattern of differentiation within each segment3. It has been suggested that a gradient of some property exists which is reiterated from segment to segment so that the intersegmental border intervenes between the “high” part of one gradient and the “low” of the next. In one model the segmental gradient is viewed as a concentration gradient of a diffusible morphogen2–5. Studies in a closely related insect have shown that from a very early stage the segments have independent lineages, clones stopping abruptly at the intersegmental border5,6.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, 8 Hunter Street, London, WC1
    ANNE E. WARNER
  2. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH
    P. A. LAWRENCE

Authors

  1. ANNE E. WARNER
  2. P. A. LAWRENCE

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WARNER, A., LAWRENCE, P. Electrical Coupling across Developmental Boundaries in Insect Epidermis.Nature 245, 47–48 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245047a0

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