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Neural Crest Cell-Autonomous Roles Of Fibronectin In Cardiovascular Development., Xia Wang, Sophie Astrof

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

The chemical and mechanical properties of extracellular matrices (ECMs) modulate diverse aspects of cellular fates; however, how regional heterogeneity in ECM composition regulates developmental programs is not well understood. We discovered that fibronectin 1 (Fn1) is expressed in strikingly non-uniform patterns during mouse development, suggesting that regionalized synthesis of the ECM plays cell-specific regulatory roles during embryogenesis. To test this hypothesis, we ablated Fn1 in the neural crest (NC), a population of multi-potent progenitors expressing high levels of Fn1. We found that Fn1 synthesized by the NC mediated morphogenesis of the aortic arch artery and differentiation of NC cells into …