Timing of Mouse Molar Formation Is Independent of Jaw Length Including Retromolar Space.

For humans and other mammals to eat effectively, teeth must develop properly inside the jaw. Deciphering craniodental integration is central to explaining the timely formation of permanent molars, including third molars which are often impacted in humans, and to clarifying how teeth and jaws fit, function and evolve together. A factor long-posited to influence molar onset time is the jaw space available for each molar organ to form within.

Expression of new genes in vertebrate tooth development and p63 signaling.

Background: p63 is an evolutionarily ancient transcription factor essential to vertebrate tooth development. Our recent gene expression screen comparing wild-type and "toothless" p63 mouse embryos implicated in tooth development several new genes that we hypothesized act downstream of p63 in dental epithelium, where p63 is also expressed.

Results: Via in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, we probed mouse embryos (embryonic days 10.

P63 expression plays a role in developmental rate, embryo size, and local morphogenesis.

Background: The p63 gene is integral to the development of many body parts including limb, palate, teeth, and urogenital tract. Loss of p63 expression may alter developmental rate, which is crucial to normal morphogenesis. To validate a novel, unbiased embryo phenotyping software tool, we tested whether delayed development contributes to the pathological phenotype of a p63 mouse mutant (p63 ).