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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Optogenetic Signaling Activation in Zebrafish Embryos
Published on: October 27, 2023
Signal-induced repression: the exception or the rule in developmental signaling?
Markus Affolter1, George Pyrowolakis, Alexander Weiss
1Biozentrum der Universität Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. markus.affolter@unibas.ch
Abstract:
Cell-cell communication plays a key role in organ formation and patterning in multicellular animals and is carried out by a few evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways. The modes of action of these pathways share a number of general properties, or habits, that allow them to strongly activate target genes in a ligand-dependent manner in the proper cellular contexts. Recent studies have revealed that some developmental signaling pathways can also strongly repress genes in a ligand-dependent manner. These new findings raise the interesting possibility that this repressive mode of action is shared by many or most developmental signaling pathways.
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