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Reelin and Notch-1 signaling pathways have been recently found to be necessary to induce the expression of brain lipid binding protein (BLBP) and to promote the process extension and the maturation of the neur...
Metal-responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1), which binds to metal response elements (MREs), plays a central role in transition metal detoxification and homeostasis. A Drosophila interactome analysis revealed ...
GATA4 and FOG2 proteins are required for normal cardiac development in mice. It has been proposed that GATA4/FOG2 transcription complex exercises its function through gene activation as well as repression; how...
Epimorphic regeneration is the process by which complete regeneration of a complex structure such as a limb occurs through production of a proliferating blastema. This type of regeneration is rare among verteb...
Serum response factor (SRF), a member of the MADS box family of nuclear transcription factors, plays an important role in cardiovascular development and function. Numerous studies demonstrate a central role fo...
Male and female gametes follow diverse developmental pathways dictated by their distinct roles in fertilization. While oocytes of oviparous animals accumulate yolk in the cytoplasm, spermatozoa slough off most...
Co-ordinated cell movement is a fundamental feature of developing embryos. Massive cell movements occur during vertebrate gastrulation and during the subsequent extension of the embryonic body axis. These are ...
Pax7 encodes a transcription factor well-established as an important determinant of mesencephalic identity and superior collicular development. Pax7 mutant mice, however, present with no obvious morphological imp...
Transcription factors that encode ANTP-class homeobox genes play crucial roles in determining the body plan organization and specification of different organs and tissues in bilaterian animals. The three-gene Par...
Previous studies indicated that, unlike mouse zygotes, sheep zygotes lacked the paternal DNA demethylation event. Another epigenetic mark, histone modification, especially at lysine 9 of histone 3 (H3K9), has ...
The transcription factor Pax6 is expressed by many cell types in the developing eye. Eyes do not form in homozygous loss-of-function mouse mutants (Pax6Sey/Sey) and are abnormally small in Pax6Sey/+ mutants. Eyes...
Zebrafish germ cells contain granular-like structures, organized around the cell nucleus. These structures share common features with polar granules in Drosophila, germinal granules in Xenopus and chromatoid b...
The transcription factor STAT3 is a downstream target of the LIF signalling cascade. LIF signalling or activation is sufficient to maintain embryonic stem (ES) cells in an undifferentiated and pluripotent stat...
As in other vertebrates, avian hindbrain neural crest migrates in streams to specific branchial arches. Signalling from Eph receptors and ephrins has been proposed to provide a molecular mechanism that guides ...
Membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs) form a family of scaffolding proteins, which are often associated with cellular junctions, such as the vertebrate tight junction, the Drosophila septate junction or ...
In the C. elegans germ line, syncytial germ line nuclei are arranged at the cortex of the germ line as they exit mitosis and enter meiosis, forming a nucleus-free core of germ line cytoplasm called the rachis. Mo...
PAX6 is a transcription factor playing a crucial role in the development of the eye and in the differentiation of the pancreatic endocrine cells as well as of enteroendocrine cells. Studies on the mouse Pax6 gene...
The Nuclear Factor I (NFI) multi-gene family encodes site-specific transcription factors essential for the development of a number of organ systems. We showed previously that Nfia-deficient mice exhibit agenesis ...
Dss1 (or Rpn15) is a recently identified subunit of the 26S proteasome regulatory particle. In addition to its function in the protein degradation machinery, it has been linked to BRCA2 (breast cancer suscepti...
Ligand endocytosis plays a critical role in regulating the activity of the Notch pathway. The Drosophila homolog of auxilin (dAux), a J-domain-containing protein best known for its role in the disassembly of clat...
Dietary restriction (DR) increases life span and delays age-associated disease in many organisms. The mechanism by which DR enhances longevity is not well understood.
Notch signaling is highly conserved in the metazoa and is critical for many cell fate decisions. Notch activation occurs following ligand binding to Notch extracellular domain. In vitro binding assays have identi...
The PKD family of serine/threonine kinases comprises a single member in Drosophila (dPKD), two isoforms in C. elegans (DKF-1 and 2) and three members, PKD1, PKD2 and PKD3 in mammals. PKD1 and PKD2 have been the f...
Horizontal cells are retinal interneurons that modulate the output from photoreceptors. A rich literature on the morphological classification and functional properties of HCs in different animals exists, howev...
Rex1/Zfp42 has been extensively used as a marker for the undifferentiated state of pluripotent stem cells. However, its function in pluripotent stem cells including embryonic stem (ES) cells remained unclear alth...
Sperm cells must regulate the timing and location of activation to maximize the likelihood of fertilization. Sperm from most species, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, activate upon encountering an e...
The data on the embryonic origin of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) from either deep embryonic veins or mesenchymal (or circulating) lymphangioblasts presently available remain inconsistent. In various vert...
Key molecules involved in notochord differentiation and function have been identified through genetic analysis in zebrafish and mice, but MEK1 and 2 have so far not been implicated in this process due to early...
Current literature and our previous results on expression patterns of oocyte-specific genes and transcription factors suggest a global but highly regulated maternal mRNA degradation at the time of embryonic ge...
The majority of our bones develop through the process of endochondral ossification that involves chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophic differentiation in the cartilage growth plate. A large number of grow...
Brd2 belongs to the bromodomain-extraterminal domain (BET) family of transcriptional co-regulators, and functions as a pivotal histone-directed recruitment scaffold in chromatin modification complexes affectin...
We are interested in understanding how the twenty neurons of the C. elegans pharynx develop in an intricate yet reproducible way within the narrow confines of the embryonic pharyngeal primordium. To complement an...
The loco gene encodes several different isoforms of a regulator of G-protein signalling. These different isoforms of LOCO are part of a pathway enabling cells to respond to external signals. LOCO is known to be r...
Up to now, two loci have been involved in XX sex-reversal in mammals following loss-of-function mutations, PIS (Polled Intersex Syndrome) in goats and R-spondin1 (RSPO1) in humans. Here, we analyze the possible i...
Over a hundred years ago, Wolff originally observed that bone growth and remodeling are exquisitely sensitive to mechanical forces acting on the skeleton. Clinical studies have noted that the size and the stre...
about 15% to 30% of the DNA in human sperm is packed in nucleosomes and transmission of this fraction to the embryo potentially serves as a mechanism to facilitate paternal epigenetic programs during embryonic...
Human clinical studies and mouse models clearly demonstrate that cytomegalovirus (CMV) disrupts normal organ and tissue development. Although CMV is one of the most common causes of major birth defects in huma...
Granulocyte colony-stimulating (G-CSF) factor is a well-known hematopoietic growth factor stimulating the proliferation and differentiation of myeloid progenitors. Recently, we uncovered that G-CSF acts also a...
Vascular branching morphogenesis is responsible for the extension of blood vessels into growing tissues, a process crucial for organogenesis. However, the genetic mechanism for vessel branching is largely unkn...
Teneurins are a unique family of transmembrane proteins conserved from C. elegans and D. melanogaster to mammals. In vertebrates there are four paralogs (teneurin-1 to -4), all of which are expressed prominently ...
Cross-species nuclear transfer has been shown to be a potent approach to retain the genetic viability of a certain species near extinction. However, most embryos produced by cross-species nuclear transfer were...
Dietary restriction (DR) results in increased longevity, reduced fecundity and reduced growth in many organisms. Though many studies have examined the effects of DR on longevity and fecundity, few have investi...
Prox1, the vertebrate homolog of prospero in Drosophila melanogaster, is a divergent homeogene that regulates cell proliferation, fate determination and differentiation during vertebrate embryonic development.
pha-4 encodes a forkhead box (FOX) A transcription factor serving as the C. elegans pharynx organ identity factor during embryogenesis. Using Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE), comparison of gene expressi...
Limb development and patterning originate from a complex interplay between the skeletal elements, tendons, and muscles of the limb. One of the genes involved in patterning of limb muscles is the homeobox trans...
During vertebrate head evolution, muscle changes accompanied radical modification of the skeleton. Recent studies have suggested that muscles and their innervation evolve less rapidly than cartilage. The fresh...
Although the transcription factor Pax6 plays an essential role in neurogenesis, layer formation and arealization in the developing mammalian cortex, the mechanisms by which it accomplishes these regulatory fun...
Homeoproteins are a class of transcription factors that are well-known regulators of organogenesis and cell differentiation in numerous tissues, including the male reproductive system. Indeed, a handful of hom...
In addition to erythrocytes, embryonic blood contains other differentiated cell lineages and potential progenitor or stem cells homed to changing niches as the embryo develops. Using chicken as a model system,...
During mouse development, the precursor cells that give rise to the auditory sensory organ, the organ of Corti, are specified prior to embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5). Subsequently, the sensory domain is patterned ...
