Signaling and transcriptional control of pituitary development.

Many common morphogenic, signaling and transcriptional hierarchy themes exist with respect to a number of different model systems representing mammalian organogenesis. The developing pituitary gland defines a fundamentally ideal system for the study and classification of biochemical and molecular events associated with biological transitions such as organ and cellular positional determination as well as lineage-specific terminal differentiation. Recent advances in defining the extrinsic and intrinsic biological cascades behind pituitary development have shed light on the crosstalk between signaling molecules and transcription factors as well as the combinatorial regulatory codes guiding gland maturation. A thorough assessment of these codes is critical to a comprehensive understanding of pituitary organogenesis and the mechanisms which may go awry during tumorigenesis.