Developmental biology deals with the regulatory principles underlying the generation of a new organism. The up-to-date knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that guide mammalian development from a single cell through a complex and integrated process of cell multiplication, differentiation and organisation of cells into tissues and organs is presented in this volume. Aspects of the molecular nature and developmental significance of cell-to-cell signals focus on: - hoxgenes, their products and potential role in mammalian morphogenesis; - growth factors, their receptors and signal transduction, and their role in guiding cell multiplication, differentiation and transformation; and - cell adhesion and extracellular matrix molecules, as short-range cell-to-cell signals in mammalian development.

Inhalt

I. Homeodomain Containing Genes: Structure and Role in Development.- The Murine Homeobox Protein Hox 1.1 is Differentially Expressed in Embryonal Mesoderm and Ectoderm.- Structure, Expression and Evolutionary Relationships of Murine Homeobox Genes in the Hox 2 Cluster.- Regulation of Expression of the Hox 2.3 Gene.- The Mouse Err-1 Gene Encodes a Nuclear Protein Expressed in the Nervous System of the Developing Embryo.- The Hox 1.3 Horneo Box Gene Encodes a Sequence Specific DNA Binding Phosphoprotein.- Analysis of Transcription of the Murine Homeobox Gene Hox 1.3.- The Human Cognate of the Murine Hox 1.3 Horneo Box Gene is Almost Identical to its Murine Counterpart.- Temporal and Cellular Specificity of Expression of the Murine Homeobox-containing Gene Hox 1.4.- Murine Homeo-Genes: Some Aspects of their Organisation and Structure.- II. Extracellular Matrices and Cell Adhesion Molecules.- Cell Adhesion in Morphogenesis.- Generation of Diversity in the NCAM Adhesion Protein of Rodents.- Ultrastructural Localization of the Cell Adhesion Molecule Uvomorulin using Site-directed Antibodies.- III. Growth Factors, Receptors and Oncogenes: Structure and Function.- Mutational Analysis of the EGF Receptor Proto-Oncogene.- Activation of the human epidermal growth factor receptor.- Insulin Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Insulin Action.- The Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor, CSF-1, and its Receptor (c-fms).- Signal Transduction by Growth Factor Receptors.- IV. Growth Factors, Receptors and Oncogenes: Role in Differentiation and Development.- Growth and Differentiation Factors of Embryonic Stem Cells.- Regulation of Growth Factors and their Receptors in Early Murine Embryogenesis.- Mesodermal Differentiation of Embryonal Carcinoma Cells in Coculture with Visceral Endoderm Cell Lines.- Platelet-derived Growth Factor and its role in Mitogenesis and Transformation.- The Role of Polypeptide Growth Factors in Phenotypic Transformation of Normal Rat Kidney Cells.- Functions of the erbA and erbB Oncogenes in Avian Erythroblastosis.- c-fos and Polyoma Middle T Oncogene Expression in Transgenic Mice and Embryonal Stem Cell Chimaeras.- Expression of Proto-oncogene int-1 is Restricted to Specific Regions of the Developing Mouse Neural Tube.