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Cerberus is a head-inducing secreted factor expressed in the anterior endoderm of Spemann's organizer
T Bouwmeester1, S Kim, Y Sasai
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095-1737, USA.
Nature
|August 15, 1996
Abstract:
An abundant cDNA enriched in Spemann's organizer, cerberus, was isolated by differential screening. It encodes a secreted protein that is expressed in the anterior endomesoderm. Microinjection of cerberus mRNA into Xenopus embryos induces ectopic heads, and duplicated hearts and livers. The results suggest a role for a molecule expressed in the anterior endoderm in the induction of head structures in the vertebrate embryo.