Limb development: a paradigm of gene regulation
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Updated: Mar 8, 2026

Chicken Recombinant Limbs Assay to Understand Morphogenesis, Patterning, and Early Steps in Cell Differentiation
Published on: January 12, 2022
Florence Petit1,2, Karen E Sears3, Nadav Ahituv1,4
1Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
Abstract:
The limb is a commonly used model system for developmental biology. Given the need for precise control of complex signalling pathways to achieve proper patterning, the limb is also becoming a model system for gene regulation studies. Recent developments in genomic technologies have enabled the genome-wide identification of regulatory elements that control limb development, yielding insights into the determination of limb morphology and forelimb versus hindlimb identity. The modulation of regulatory interactions - for example, through the modification of regulatory sequences or chromatin architecture - can lead to morphological evolution, acquired regeneration capacity or limb malformations in diverse species, including humans.
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