Nodal signalling in vertebrate development

Abstract
Communication between cells during early embryogenesis establishes the basic organization of the vertebrate body plan. Recent work suggests that a signalling pathway centering on Nodal, a transforming growth factor β-related signal, is responsible for many of the events that configure the vertebrate embryo. The activity of Nodal signals is regulated extracellularly by EGF-CFC cofactors and antagonists of the Lefty and Cerberus families of proteins, allowing precise control of mesoderm and endoderm formation, the positioning of the anterior–posterior axis, neural patterning and left–right axis specification.