Hartman Institute for Therapeutic Organ Regeneration

BMP-like signals are required after the midblastula transition for blood cell development.

TitleBMP-like signals are required after the midblastula transition for blood cell development.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1996
AuthorsZhang C, Evans T
JournalDev Genet
Volume18
Issue3
Pagination267-78
Date Published1996
ISSN0192-253X
KeywordsAnimals, Base Sequence, Blastocyst, Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, Cell Differentiation, Cells, Cultured, Culture Techniques, DNA Primers, Erythrocytes, Molecular Sequence Data, Proteins, Receptors, Cell Surface, Receptors, Growth Factor, Signal Transduction, Transcription, Genetic, Xenopus
Abstract

We have investigated the process by which the primitive erythroid cells develop during early vertebrate embryogenesis. Cultured Xenopus animal cap (AC) cells transiently activate the transcription of blood cell regulatory genes GATA-1 and GATA-2 but fail to commit stably to the blood lineage. By contrast, cells of the presumptive ventral marginal zone (VMZ), are committed by the midblastula transition (MBT) to express fully on erythroid program. Growth factor BMP-4, a member of the TGF-beta family of signaling molecules, has been implicated in the process of ventral mesoderm patterning. We show that expression of BMP-4 after MBT is sufficient to induce the blood program fully in AC cells. This includes high level expression of the blood markers SCL and globin, which are not activated in AC cells from uninjected embryos. Likewise, expression of a dominant negative receptor after MBT results in relatively normal embryos, which, however, completely lack differentiated blood cells. Our results are consistent with a role for BMP or BMP-like signaling during gastrulation in the differentiation of embryonic blood.

DOI10.1002/(SICI)1520-6408(1996)18:3<267::AID-DVG7>3.0.CO;2-7
Alternate JournalDev Genet
PubMed ID8631160

Weill Cornell Medicine
Hartman Institute for Therapeutic Organ Regeneration
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