Murine inner cell mass-derived lineages depend on Sall4 function
(2006)
Journal - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abstract :
Sall4 is a mammalian Spalt transcription factor expressed by cells of the early embryo and germ cells, an expression pattern similar to that of both Oct4 and Sox2, which play essential roles during early murine development. We show that the activity of Sall4 is cell-autonomously required for the development of the epiblast and primitive endoderm from the inner cell mass. Furthermore, no embryonic or extraembryonic endoderm stem cell lines could be established from Sall4-deficient blastocysts. In contrast, neither the development of the trophoblast lineage nor the ability to generate trophoblast cell lines from murine blastocysts was impaired in the absence of Sall4. These data establish Sall4 as an essential transcription factor required for the early development of inner cell mass-derived cell lineages.
| ISSN : | 0027-8424 |
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| Keywords : | blastocyst,spalt,stem cells,transcription factor |
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The bHLH factor Olig3 coordinates the specification of dorsal neurons in the spinal cord
(2005)
Journal - Genes &
Abstract :
Neurons of the dorsal horn integrate and relay sensory informationand arise during development in the dorsal spinal cord, thealar plate. Class A and B neurons emerge in the dorsal and ventralalar plate, differ in their dependence on roof plate signalsfor specification, and settle in the deep and superficial dorsalhorn, respectively. We show here that the basic helix-loop-helix(bHLH) gene Olig3 is expressed in progenitor cells that generateclass A (dI1-dI3) neurons and that Olig3 is an important factorin the development of these neuronal cell types. In Olig3 mutantmice, the development of class A neurons is impaired; dI1 neuronsare generated in reduced numbers, whereas dI2 and dI3 neuronsare misspecified and assume the identity of class B neurons.Conversely, Olig3 represses the emergence of class B neuronsin the chick spinal cord. We conclude that Olig3 expressiondistinguishes the two major classes of progenitors in the dorsalspinal cord and determines the distinct specification programof class A neurons.Corresponding authors.3These authors contributed equally to this work.4E-MAIL treier{at}embl.de; FAX 49-6221-387-166.5E-MAIL cbirch{at}mdc-berlin.de; FAX 49-30-9406-3765.
| Keywords : | bHLH • pattern formation • spinal cord |
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