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Developmental biology

Gridlock holds the key to vasculogenesis

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 2, page 914 (2001)Cite this article

In vertebrates, angioblasts are initially found at the 'edge' of the embryo in the lateral posterior mesoderm (LPM) — they later migrate to the middle of the embryo where they aggregate to form the aorta and the first veins. By labelling angioblasts and following their progeny, Zhong et al. showed that individual angioblasts contribute to the artery or the vein, but not both. This result indicated that the fate of an angioblast is determined long before it leaves the LPM, and that arterial and venous precursors are spatially mixed.

The grl gene is expressed in the LPM and along the aorta, and grl mutants have a specific defect in the dorsal part of the aorta, so the team tested the involvement of this gene in the cell-fate decision. When Zhong et al. decreased the levels of Grl using antisense constructs, the aorta shrank, whereas the adjacent vein increased in size. Conversely, overexpression of Grl in embryos reduced vein size. Taken together, these results imply that angioblast expression of Grl suppresses a default vein-specific pathway, allowing cells to take on arterial characteristics.

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References

  1. ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER Zhong, T. P. et al. Gridlock signalling pathway fashions the first embryonic artery. Nature 414, 216–220 (2001)

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    Sarah Cooney

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Cooney, S. Gridlock holds the key to vasculogenesis. Nat Rev Genet 2, 914 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35103550

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