The Control of Branching Morphogenesis

Many organs of higher organisms are heavily branched structures and arise by an at first sight similar process of branching morphogenesis. Yet the regulatory components and local interactions that have been identified differ greatly in these organs. It is an open question whether the regulatory processes work according to a common principle and in how far physical and geometric constraints determine the branching process. Here we review the known regulatory factors and physical constraints in lung, kidney, pancreas, prostate, mammary and salivary gland branching morphogenesis, and describe the models that have been formulated to analyse their impacts.