{"doi":"10.1126/science.ado7604","title":"Axis formation in annual killifish: Nodal and β-catenin regulate morphogenesis without Huluwa prepatterning","abstract":"Axis formation in fish and amphibians typically begins with a prepattern of maternal gene products. Annual killifish embryogenesis, however, challenges prepatterning models as blastomeres disperse and then aggregate to form the germ layers and body axes. We show that huluwa , a prepatterning factor thought to break symmetry by stabilizing β-catenin, is truncated and inactive in Nothobranchius furzeri . Nuclear β-catenin is not selectively stabilized on one side of the blastula but accumulates in cells forming the aggregate. Blocking β-catenin activity or Nodal signaling disrupts aggregate formation and germ layer specification. Nodal signaling coordinates cell migration, establishing an early role for this signaling pathway. These results reveal a surprising departure from established mechanisms of axis formation: Huluwa-mediated prepatterning is dispensable, and β-catenin and Nodal regulate morphogenesis.","journal":"Science","year":2024,"id":433077,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":14,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9509,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1238334,"name":"Laura M. Stump","orcid":"0009-0004-5325-8803","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":808788,"name":"Deniz C. Aksel","orcid":"0000-0003-4260-4964","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":32267,"name":"Alexander F. Schier","orcid":"0000-0001-7645-5325","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":691103,"name":"Philip B. Abitua","orcid":"0000-0002-8264-0807","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":45,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:59:44.444627Z","pmid":"38843334","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}