Organizing centers are groups of specialized cells that secrete morphogens, thereby influencing development of their neighboring territories. Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death reported to limit the size of organizers. Little is known about the identity of intracellular signals driving organizer cell death. Here we investigated in Xenopus the role of both the anti‐apoptotic protein Myeloid‐cell‐leukemia 1 (Mcl1) and the cysteine proteases Caspase‐3 and Caspase‐7 in formation of the axial organizing center—the notochord—that derives from the Spemann organizer, and participates in the induction and patterning of the neuroepithelium.

中文翻译：

---

Mcl1 蛋白水平和 Caspase-7 刽子手蛋白酶控制轴向组织者细胞的存活。

组织中心是一组专门的细胞，它们分泌形态发生素，从而影响其邻近领土的发展。细胞凋亡是一种程序性细胞死亡形式，据报道可以限制组织者的大小。关于驱动组织者细胞死亡的细胞内信号的身份知之甚少。在这里，我们在非洲爪蟾中研究了抗凋亡蛋白髓样细胞白血病 1 (Mcl1) 和半胱氨酸蛋白酶 Caspase-3 和 Caspase-7 在形成轴向组织中心——脊索——中的作用。组织者，并参与神经上皮的诱导和形成。