Fig. 1.

Cranial skull defects in the Axin2^−/− mice. Lateral (A) and dorsal (B,C) views of 27-day-old control (+/+) and Axin2 mutant (–/–) mice show that the skull is shortened in the Axin2^−/− mice. Whole-mount (D,E) and skeletal staining (F–I) analyses of the cranial skull reveal abnormalities of the Axin2^−/−suture at 4 weeks. The arrowheads indicate the sutures (black, metopic suture; white, jugum limitans) that lie between the nasal (N) and frontal (F) bones. The jugum limitans has disappeared and there is unilateral fusion of the metopic suture (arrows). Scale bars: 4 mm in A–C; 2 mm in D,E; 1 mm in F–I.