Pattern formation along the anteroposterior axis of the chick wing: the increase in width following a polarizing region graft and the effect of X-irradiation.

A study is made of the widening of the chick limb bud that occurs after a graft of an additional polarizing region. Such buds are about 50% wider than controls, after 36 h. By contrast, growth along the proximodistal axis in unaffected. This widening is reduced by treating the host embryo with 10 Gy X-irradiation and the altered pattern of digits is consistent with a diffusible morphogen model for the specification of positional information along the anteroposterior axis.