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Published on: April 23, 2018
Specificities of heparan sulphate proteoglycans in developmental processes
1Department of Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Heparan sulphate proteoglycans are abundant cell-surface molecules that consist of a protein core to which heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycan chains are attached. The functions of these molecules have remained mostly underappreciated by developmental biologists; however, the actions of important signalling molecules, for example Wnt and Hedgehog, depend on them. To understand both the mechanisms by which ligands involved in development interact with their receptors and how morphogens pattern tissues, biologists need to consider the functions of heparan sulphate proteoglycans in signalling and developmental patterning.
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