THE NOTCH RECEPTOR AND ITS LIGANDS

An intricate interplay of signalling pathways dictates the acquisition of specific cell fates during development. The NOTCH receptor is the central element in a cell-interaction mechanism that controls the fate of a very broad spectrum of precursor cells. Conservation across spec ies implies that signalling through this receptor is a tool frequently used by metazoans to modulate the fate of precursor cells. This artic le describes recent advances in the genetic and molecular dissection o f this developmentally fundamental pathway that have provided new insi ghts into the mechanism by which extracellular signals act through the NOTCH receptor to determine or alter cellular fate.