Stern M J, DeVore D L
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Genetics, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8005.
Dev Biol. 1994 Dec;166(2):443-59. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1994.1328.
The development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is known to depend extensively on reproducible cell-cell interactions. The analysis of many of these signaling events has revealed that, in most cases, the mechanisms that mediate them have been conserved throughout metazoan evolution. Thus, the analysis of signaling pathways in C. elegans can aid in the understanding of signal transduction mechanisms in general. In this review we focus on signaling events that occur during the development of the hermaphrodite egg-laying system. Many of these signaling events occur at approximately the same time and in very close proximity to one another. Following a brief review of the individual signaling systems employed, we analyze the data that have started to address how the specificity among these pathways is maintained and how multiple pathways that affect individual developmental decisions are integrated. These issues are common to all signaling systems and should be instructive in presenting the complexities that are involved in obtaining a global understanding of development.
已知秀丽隐杆线虫的发育在很大程度上依赖于可重复的细胞间相互作用。对许多此类信号事件的分析表明，在大多数情况下，介导这些事件的机制在整个后生动物进化过程中都得到了保留。因此，对秀丽隐杆线虫信号通路的分析总体上有助于理解信号转导机制。在本综述中，我们重点关注雌雄同体产卵系统发育过程中发生的信号事件。其中许多信号事件几乎同时发生且彼此非常接近。在简要回顾所采用的各个信号系统之后，我们分析了已开始探讨这些通路之间的特异性是如何维持以及影响个体发育决策的多个通路是如何整合的数据。这些问题是所有信号系统共有的，对于呈现全面理解发育过程中所涉及的复杂性应该具有指导意义。
