Studying Vertebral Defects—Embryonic structures called somites develop into vertebrae. The number of somites--and hence the number of vertebrae—varies widely among vertebrate species, from about 10 in frogs to 33 in humans to more than 300 in snakes. Ertugrul Ozbudak, Ph.D., and colleagues found evidence that all vertebrate species use a similar ‘vertebrate segmentation clock’—a gene expression oscillator that paces rhythmic segmentation of the vertebral column during embryonic development. Dr. Ozbudak has received a five-year, $1.9-million NIH grant in which he will use a model organism--the zebrafish--to find the genes involved in this oscillator mechanism. The genetic causes of many vertebral defects are unknown, and gene mutations involved in the oscillator mechanism are prime candidates for causing many of the birth defects affecting the vertebral column.
Posted on: Monday, February 09, 2015