Notch Signaling and Tissue Patterning in Embryology: An Introduction.

The attention of science first turned to the gene that later earned the name Notch over a century ago, when the American scientist John S. Dexter discovered in his laboratory at Olivet College the characteristic notched-wing phenotype (a nick or notch in the wingtip) in mutant fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster. At present, it is generally accepted that the Notch pathway governs tissue patterning and many key cell fate decisions and other core processes during embryonic development and in adult tissues. Not surprisingly, a broad variety of independent inherited diseases (including CADASIL, Alagille, Adams-Oliver, and Hajdu-Cheney syndromes) have now convincingly been linked to defective Notch signaling. In the second edition of the book entitled Notch Signaling in Embryology and Cancer, leading researchers provide a comprehensive, highly readable overview on molecular mechanisms of Notch signaling (Volume I), and notch's roles in embryology (Vol. II) and cancer (Vol. III). In these introductory pages of Vol. II, we give a short overview on its individual chapters, which are intended to provide both basic scientists and clinicians who seek today's clearest understanding of the broad role of Notch signaling in embryology with an authoritative day-to-day source.