Molecular Biology Commons^™

Myocardium And Bmp Signaling Are Required For Endocardial Differentiation, Sharina Palencia-Desai, Megan S. Rost, Jennifer A. Schumancher, Quynh V. Ton, Michael P. Craig, Kristina Baltrunaite, Andrew L. Koenig, Jinhu Wang, Kenneth D. Poss, Neil C. Chi, Didier Y.R. Stainier

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Endocardial and myocardial progenitors originate in distinct regions of the anterior lateral plate mesoderm and migrate to the midline where they coalesce to form the cardiac tube. Endocardial progenitors acquire a molecular identity distinct from other vascular endothelial cells and initiate expression of specific genes such as nfatc1. Yet the molecular pathways and tissue interactions involved in establishing endocardial identity are poorly understood. The endocardium develops in tight association with cardiomyocytes. To test for a potential role of the myocardium in endocardial morphogenesis, we used two different zebrafish models deficient in cardiomyocytes: the hand2 mutant and a myocardial-specific genetic …