Rudimentary claws and pigmented nail‐like structures on the distal tips of the digits of Wnt7a mutant mice: Wnt7A suppresses nail‐like structure development in mice
Birth Defects Research Part A Clinical and Molecular Teratology2010Vol. 88(6), pp. 487–496
Citations Over Time
Sumiko Kimura, Hirotomo Saitsu, Blanka A. Schaumann, Kohei Shiota, Naomichi Matsumoto, Mākoto Ishibashi
Abstract
These findings suggest that Wnt7a is not necessarily an exclusive dorsalizing signal to the dorsal ectoderm of the digital areas of autopods. Rather, the Wnt7a signal may participate in suppression of the development of pigmented nail-like structures in normal limb development. This means that even rodents, a species lower than primates in the evolution from claws to nails, have molecular potential to develop cutaneous appendages similar to nails at their location.