Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Placing Growth Factor-Coated Beads on Early Stage Chicken Embryos
Published on: October 1, 2007
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) homologous factors: new members of the FGF family implicated in nervous system
P M Smallwood1, I Munoz-Sanjuan, P Tong
1Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Abstract:
Four new members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family, referred to as fibroblast growth factor homologous factors (FHFs), have been identified by a combination of random cDNA sequencing, data base searches, and degenerate PCR. Pairwise comparisons between the four FHFs show between 58% and 71% amino acid sequence identity, but each FHF shows less than 30% identity when compared with other FGFs. Like FGF-1 (acidic FGF) and FGF-2 (basic FGF), the FHFs lack a classical signal sequence and contain clusters of basic residues that can act as nuclear localization signals. In transiently transfected 293 cells FHF-1 accumulates in the nucleus and is not secreted. Each FHF is expressed in the developing and adult nervous systems, suggesting a role for this branch of the FGF family in nervous system development and function.
Related Concept Videos
Determination
Notch Signaling Pathway
The Notch gene came into the limelight in 1914 after the discovery that its mutation in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a serrated (or "notched") wing margin phenotype. It was not until 1985...
Introduction to Fibroblasts
TGF - β Signaling Pathway
Fibronectins Connect Cells with ECM
Both proteoglycans and collagen are attached to fibronectin proteins, which, in turn, are attached to integrin proteins. These integrin proteins interact with transmembrane...
Neurogenesis and Regeneration of Nervous Tissue

