The signaling molecules of the molecular basis for the body axes already developed 600 million years ago in the common ancestor of vertebrates and sea anemones (Copyright: millerse - Sarah E ( Wikimedia Commons).
Cells need to "know" where they are in relation to all other cells in order to give rise into the correct cell types and tissues. To this end, two body axes are established during early embryogenesis. The so-called "organizer" is responsible for the formation of these body axes. In their current publication in "Nature ", the developmental biologists Ulrich Technau and Grigory Genikhovich from the University of Vienna and their team have shown that the molecular principles of the organizer are much more ancient than previously thought, and are not a vertebrate "invention". The same signals were used for axis formation already in the common ancestor of sea anemones and vertebrates 600 million years ago. In humans and in animals, the correct position of tissues, organs and appendages is essential. Two body axes (the head-tail and the back-belly axes) usually define this position by generating a coordinate system, which supplies each cell in the body with its precise address.
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