Abstract
Pancreatic development is arguably the best-studied example of organogenesis. Both gain-of-function and loss-of-function studies conducted in mice over the last decade have contributed to our understanding of a basic “genetic roadmap” of pancreatic – and particularly endocrine – development. Here we review this knowledge from the onset of the pancreatic program in the foregut epithelium (with the expression of the critical regulators Pdx1 and Ptf1a) to the specification of ductal, exocrine, and endocrine cell types. A special emphasis is placed on the development of endocrine beta cells, which are destroyed in type I diabetes and therefore constitute the endpoint of many stem cell differentiation protocols.