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Figure 1 | Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Figure 1

From: Micropatterning of cells reveals chiral morphogenesis

Figure 1

Two models for the initiation of left-right asymmetry in embryo development. (a) Primary cilia model. The cells at the ventral node have their primary cilia position toward the posterior side, while these cilia spontaneously rotate in a counter-clockwise fashion and drive an effective flow toward the left over the node, thus inducing a gradient of morphogens and determining the left-right axis. (b) Voltage gradient model. At the four-cell cleavage stage of a fertilized Xenopus egg, the mRNAs for ion transporter proteins are directionally transported to the right-ventral side, leading to localized asymmetric ion transporter expression and generating a left-right voltage gradient across the ventral midline, inducing sided asymmetric gene expression

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