Asymmetry: molecular, biologic, embryopathic, and clinical perspectives.

This overview of asymmetry addresses the following topics: chiral molecules; asymmetric signaling molecules, including N-cadherin, Shh, Fgf8, lefty1, lefty2, nodal, Pitx2, activin betaB, activin receptor IIA, and cSnR; situs abnormalities; asymmetric cell division; laterality in humans and animals; behavioral asymmetry in humans and animals; asymmetric embryopathies, including Tessier-type "clefts"; hemiasymmetries such as hemihyperplasia, hemihypoplasia, and hemiatrophy; asymmetric vascular syndromes, including Klippel-Trenaunay and Sturge-Weber syndromes; plagiocephaly of the synostotic and deformational types; somatic mosaicism, including a discussion of McCune-Albright syndrome, fibrous dysplasia, GNAS1 mutations, and Proteus syndrome.