PUBLICATION

Vessel and blood specification override cardiac potential in anterior mesoderm

Authors
Schoenebeck, J.J., Keegan, B.R., and Yelon, D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-070813-11
Date
2007
Source
Developmental Cell   13(2): 254-267 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keegan, Brian, Yelon, Deborah
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors
  • Body Patterning
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/cytology
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Heart/embryology*
  • Hematopoiesis
  • Mesoderm/cytology
  • Mesoderm/metabolism*
  • Mutation/genetics
  • Myocardium/cytology
  • Myocytes, Cardiac/cytology
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic*
  • Stem Cells/cytology
  • Zebrafish/blood*
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
  • Zebrafish Proteins
PubMed
17681136 Full text @ Dev. Cell
Abstract
Organ progenitors arise within organ fields, embryonic territories that are larger than the regions required for organ formation. Little is known about the regulatory pathways that define organ field boundaries and thereby limit organ size. Here we identify a mechanism for restricting heart size through confinement of the developmental potential of the heart field. Via fate mapping in zebrafish, we locate cardiac progenitors within hand2-expressing mesoderm and demonstrate that hand2 potentiates cardiac differentiation within this region. Beyond the rostral boundary of hand2 expression, we find progenitors of vessel and blood lineages. In embryos deficient in vessel and blood specification, rostral mesoderm undergoes a fate transformation and generates ectopic cardiomyocytes. Therefore, induction of vessel and blood specification represses cardiac specification and delimits the capacity of the heart field. This regulatory relationship between cardiovascular pathways suggests strategies for directing progenitor cell differentiation to facilitate cardiac regeneration.
Genes / Markers
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Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping