Dynamics and diversity in spider segmentation

We genome-widely identified 98 genes which transcriptionally responded to altered states of Hedgehog signaling. Our analyses focused on the msx1 gene, which is negatively regulated by Hedgehog signaling.



There are three types of gene expression waves involved in periodic stripe formation associated with spider segmenation. The dynamics of all these three waves are regulated by Hedgehog signaling via the msx1 gene. In the head region, waves of hh expression undergo repeated splitting. In the thoracic region, the first wave of msx1 expression coming from the polar region undergoes simultaneous tri-splitting. In the opisthosomal (or abdominal) region, expression of clock genes (including msx1) starts oscillating.


News