Multiple roles of timing in somite formation.

During development, vertebrate embryos produce serially repeated elements, the somites, on each side of the midline. These generate the vertebral column, skeletal musculature and dermis. They form sequentially, one pair at a time, from mesenchymal tissue near the tail. Somite development is a complex process. The embryo must control the number, size, and timing of somite formation, their subdivision into functional regions along three axes, regional identity such that somites develop in a region-specific way, and interactions with neighbouring tissues that coordinate them with nearby structures. Here we discuss many timing-related mechanisms that contribute to set up the spatial pattern.