Review Article Timing Embryo Segmentation: Dynamics and Regulatory Mechanisms of the Vertebrate Segmentation Clock

Copyright © 2014 Tatiana P. Resende et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All vertebrate species present a segmented body, easily observed in the vertebrate column and its associated components, which provides a high degree of motility to the adult body and efficient protection of the internal organs. The sequential formation of the segmented precursors of the vertebral column during embryonic development, the somites, is governed by an oscillating genetic network, the somitogenesis molecular clock. Herein, we provide an overview of the molecular clock operating during somite formation and its underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms. Human congenital vertebral malformations have been associated with perturbations in these oscillatory mechanisms.Thus, a better comprehension of the molecular mechanisms regulating somite formation is required in order to fully understand the origin of human skeletal malformations. 1. Early Events in Vertebrate Development Body segmentation can be detected early in development through the formation of repeated segments, the somites, along the anterior-posterior (A-P) body axis. Somites are blocks of cells formed from the anterior end of themesenchy