Dataset Information

Tbx2 and Tbx3 induce atrioventricular myocardial development and endocardial cushion formation.

ABSTRACT: A key step in heart development is the coordinated development of the atrioventricular canal (AVC), the constriction between the atria and ventricles that electrically and physically separates the chambers, and the development of the atrioventricular valves that ensure unidirectional blood flow. Using knock-out and inducible overexpression mouse models, we provide evidence that the developmentally important T-box factors Tbx2 and Tbx3, in a functionally redundant manner, maintain the AVC myocardium phenotype during the process of chamber differentiation. Expression profiling and ChIP-sequencing analysis of Tbx3 revealed that it directly interacts with and represses chamber myocardial genes, and induces the atrioventricular pacemaker-like phenotype by activating relevant genes. Moreover, mutant mice lacking 3 or 4 functional alleles of Tbx2 and Tbx3 failed to form atrioventricular cushions, precursors of the valves and septa. Tbx2 and Tbx3 trigger development of the cushions through a regulatory feed-forward loop with Bmp2, thus providing a mechanism for the co-localization and coordination of these important processes in heart development.

SUBMITTER: Singh R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3314179 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Tbx2 and Tbx3 induce atrioventricular myocardial development and endocardial cushion formation.

Singh Reena R Hoogaars Willem M WM Barnett Phil P Grieskamp Thomas T Rana M Sameer MS Buermans Henk H Farin Henner F HF Petry Marianne M Heallen Todd T Martin James F JF Moorman Antoon F M AF 't Hoen Peter A C PA Kispert Andreas A Christoffels Vincent M VM

Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 20111201 8

A key step in heart development is the coordinated development of the atrioventricular canal (AVC), the constriction between the atria and ventricles that electrically and physically separates the chambers, and the development of the atrioventricular valves that ensure unidirectional blood flow. Using knock-out and inducible overexpression mouse models, we provide evidence that the developmentally important T-box factors Tbx2 and Tbx3, in a functionally redundant manner, maintain the AVC myocard ...[more]

PMID: 22130515

Similar Datasets

Project description:Rationale: A critical step in heart development is the coordinated formation of nodal myocardium and cushion tissue from the atrioventricular canal (AVC). After its specification, the myocardium of the AVC aligns the chambers, forms the AV node, and induces the formation of the mesenchymal AV cushions, primordia of valves and septa, while it resists working myocardial differentiation. Objective: To assess what roles Tbx2 and Tbx3, two closely related T-box transcription factors expressed in the AVC, play in these processes. Methods and Results: We analyzed mice ectopically expressing Tbx3 in the atrial myocardium by genome-wide microarray and expression analysis. We found a prominent role for Tbx3 in defining the nodal phenotype by repressing working myocardial genes (sarcomeric, mitochondrial, fast conduction) and cell proliferation regulators, and in inducing node-associated genes. Moreover, there was a striking induction of genes associated with endocardial cushions and mesenchyme. Using gain-of-function models, we found that in the developing heart both Tbx2 and Tbx3 induce ectopic Bmp2 and Tgfb2 expression and endocardial cushion formation. Analysis of compound Tbx2/Tbx3 mutant embryos revealed that upon loss of more than two functional alleles, expansion of the AV myocardium does not occur and AV cushions fail to form. Conclusions: Tbx2 and Tbx3 locally stimulate development of the AVC myocardium, induce the AV nodal phenotype therein and trigger AV cushion formation from the overlying AV endocardium, providing a mechanism for the colocalization and coordination of these two important processes in heart development. Nppa-Cre4 (Cre4) mice were crossed with CT mice to obtain efficient activation of Tbx3 in atria of double transgenic Cre4-CT mice, as previously described (Hoogaars et al., 2007). To investigate the gene expression profile of atria of Cre4-CT mice, we performed whole genome microarray analysis using Sentrix Mouse-6 oligonucleotide beadchips. We compared the atrial gene expression profiles of six male double transgenic Cre4-CT mice and six male Cre4 control mice.

Project description:Function of the heart begins long before its formation is complete. Analyses in mouse and zebrafish have shown that myocardial function is not required for early steps of organogenesis, such as formation of the heart tube or chamber specification. However, whether myocardial function is required for later steps of cardiac development, such as endocardial cushion (EC) formation, has not been established. Recent technical advances and approaches have provided novel inroads toward the study of organogenesis, allowing us to examine the effects of both genetic and pharmacological perturbations of myocardial function on EC formation in zebrafish. To address whether myocardial function is required for EC formation, we examined silent heart (sih(-/-)) embryos, which lack a heartbeat due to mutation of cardiac troponin T (tnnt2), and observed that atrioventricular (AV) ECs do not form. Likewise, we determined that cushion formation is blocked in cardiofunk (cfk(-/-)) embryos, which exhibit cardiac dilation and no early blood flow. In order to further analyze the heart defects in cfk(-/-) embryos, we positionally cloned cfk and show that it encodes a novel sarcomeric actin expressed in the embryonic myocardium. The Cfk(s11) variant exhibits a change in a universally conserved residue (R177H). We show that in yeast this mutation negatively affects actin polymerization. Because the lack of cushion formation in sih- and cfk-mutant embryos could be due to reduced myocardial function and/or lack of blood flow, we approached this question pharmacologically and provide evidence that reduction in myocardial function is primarily responsible for the defect in cushion development. Our data demonstrate that early myocardial function is required for later steps of organogenesis and suggest that myocardial function, not endothelial shear stress, is the major epigenetic factor controlling late heart development. Based on these observations, we postulate that defects in cardiac morphogenesis may be secondary to mutations affecting early myocardial function, and that, in humans, mutations affecting embryonic myocardial function may be responsible for structural congenital heart disease.

Dataset Information

Tbx2 and Tbx3 induce atrioventricular myocardial development and endocardial cushion formation.

Publications

Tbx2 and Tbx3 induce atrioventricular myocardial development and endocardial cushion formation.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets