Hex Homeobox Gene Controls the Transition of the Endoderm to a Pseudostratified, Cell Emergent Epithelium for Liver Bud Development.
From: Cell and Developmental Biology Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 333 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA.
Developmental biology
- Publish Date: Feb 2006
- ISSN: 0012-1606
- Volume: 290
- Issue: 1
- Pages: 44-56
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Bort Roque, Signore Massimo, Tremblay Kimberly, et al. Hex Homeobox Gene Controls the Transition of the Endoderm to a Pseudostratified, Cell Emergent Epithelium for Liver Bud Development.. Dev. Biol. Feb 2006;290:44-56
Abstract
Little is known about the mechanism by which embryonic liver, lung, and pancreas progenitor cells emerge from the endodermal epithelium to initiate organogenesis. Understanding this process and its genetic control provides insight into ontogeny, developmental abnormalities, and tissue regeneration. We find that shortly after hepatic endoderm cells are specified, they undergo a transition from a columnar, gut morphology to a pseudostratified morphology, with concomitant “interkinetic nuclear migration” (INM) during cell division. INM is a hallmark of pseudostratified epithelia and the process used by neural progenitors to emerge from the neural epithelium. We find that the transition of the hepatic endoderm, but not the neural epithelium, to a pseudostratified epithelium is dependent upon the cell-autonomous activity of the homeobox gene Hex. In the absence of Hex, hepatic endoderm cells survive but maintain a columnar, simple epithelial phenotype and ectopically express Shh and other genes characteristic of the midgut epithelium. Thus, Hex promotes endoderm organogenesis by promoting the transition to a pseudostratified epithelium, which in turn allows hepatoblasts to emerge into the stromal environment and continue differentiating.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Animals, Body Patterning, Cell Differentiation, Cell Proliferation, Endoderm, Epithelium, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Hedgehog Proteins, Homeodomain Proteins, Liver, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Mutant Strains, Mutation, Organogenesis, Stromal Cells, Trans-Activators, Transcription Factors
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 16364283
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