Summary of the science
Segmentation genes are important in the early stages of development because they determine the overall anatomy of the embryo. A key factor in segmentation is notch signalling, whereby cells are signalled to become specific types of cells (also called cell fate). It involves the activation of the Notch protein on the surface of the cells, which triggers a series of responses within the cell. This process is important for normal development and can be implicated in cancer when it goes wrong.
About the research
Kim Dale and his colleagues are interested in the Notch pathway, and how it controls the formation of tissues and organs early on in development. Through studying somitogenesis, the process of forming tissue segments called somites, they have shown that the Notch pathway is a simple yet crucial mechanism, where ligands from one cell interact with receptors on another cell, and whereby the signals produced activate genes that regulate overall stem cell behaviour, cell fate and tissue formation.
About the illustration
As the title mentions, the talk is centred around the formation of the 'body plan'. To emphasise that this occurs during early development, we chose to have an embryo be the centre of the image, with yellow to highlight the different body segments at this stage. The embryo is surrounded by multiple feedback loops to indicate the great number of overlapping and intertwined cell-cell signalling networks involved.