Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama.
Exp Dermatol. 2019 Apr;28(4):509-513. doi: 10.1111/exd.13852. Epub 2019 Jan 15.
Mammalian periodic pigment patterns, such as spots and stripes, have long interested mathematicians and biologists because they arise from non-random developmental processes that are programmed to be spatially constrained, and can therefore be used as a model to understand how organized morphological structures develop. Despite such interest, the developmental and molecular processes underlying their formation remain poorly understood. Here, we argue that Arvicanthines, a clade of African rodents that naturally evolved a remarkable array of coat patterns, represent a tractable model system in which to dissect the mechanistic basis of pigment pattern formation. Indeed, we review recent insights into the process of stripe formation that were obtained using an Arvicanthine species, the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio), and discuss how these rodents can be used to probe deeply into our understanding of the factors that specify and implement positional information in the skin. By combining naturally evolved pigment pattern variation in rodents with classic and novel experimental approaches, we can substantially advance our understanding of the processes by which spatial patterns of cell differentiation are established during embryogenesis, a fundamental question in developmental biology.
哺乳动物的周期性色素图案，如斑点和条纹，长期以来一直引起数学家和生物学家的兴趣，因为它们源于非随机的发育过程，这些过程被编程为空间受限，因此可以作为理解有组织的形态结构如何发育的模型。尽管人们对此很感兴趣，但它们形成的发育和分子过程仍知之甚少。在这里，我们认为，非洲啮齿动物的一个分支——Arvicanthines 自然进化出了一系列引人注目的毛色图案，它们代表了一个易于处理的模型系统，可以剖析色素图案形成的机制基础。事实上，我们回顾了最近使用 Arvicanthine 物种——非洲条纹鼠（Rhabdomys pumilio）获得的条纹形成过程的新见解，并讨论了这些啮齿动物如何被用来深入了解指定和实施皮肤中位置信息的因素。通过将啮齿动物中自然进化的色素图案变化与经典和新颖的实验方法相结合，我们可以大大提高我们对胚胎发生过程中细胞分化的空间模式是如何建立的这一基本发育生物学问题的理解。
