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Role of transcription factors MEIS in the origin and development of the neural crest
Fábik, Jaroslav
Unique to the vertebrate embryo, neural crest cells represent a multipotent cell population that migrates throughout the body and gives rise to a multitude of different types of cells and tissues. Cranial neural crest cells populate the developing pharyngeal arches and establish skeletogenic condensations that generate the future bones and cartilages of the face and neck. Moreover, these cells send out and receive signals from adjacent tissues of non-neural crest origin, such as the mandibular epithelium and muscle precursor cells. Such reciprocal interactions give rise to organs and structures, for instance, to the tongue. The aim of this work was to elucidate the roles of homeodomain-containing MEIS transcription factors in neural crest cells and in craniofacial development, by using a mouse model with conditional inactivation of Meis2 gene in neural crest cells. We show that transcription factor MEIS2 is expressed in the medial region of the developing mandible and in the developing tongue. Conditional Meis2 inactivation using the Wnt1-Cre2 mouse strain caused mandible and tongue hypoplasia, and ectopic bone formation at the expense of tongue development. These mandibular arch anomalies were accompanied by the loss of Hedgehog signaling in the mandibular epithelium, expanded RUNX2 expression in...
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Role of transcription factors MEIS in the origin and development of the neural crest
Fábik, Jaroslav ; Machoň, Ondřej (advisor) ; Buchtová, Marcela (referee) ; Procházka, Jan (referee)
Unique to the vertebrate embryo, neural crest cells represent a multipotent cell population that migrates throughout the body and gives rise to a multitude of different types of cells and tissues. Cranial neural crest cells populate the developing pharyngeal arches and establish skeletogenic condensations that generate the future bones and cartilages of the face and neck. Moreover, these cells send out and receive signals from adjacent tissues of non-neural crest origin, such as the mandibular epithelium and muscle precursor cells. Such reciprocal interactions give rise to organs and structures, for instance, to the tongue. The aim of this work was to elucidate the roles of homeodomain-containing MEIS transcription factors in neural crest cells and in craniofacial development, by using a mouse model with conditional inactivation of Meis2 gene in neural crest cells. We show that transcription factor MEIS2 is expressed in the medial region of the developing mandible and in the developing tongue. Conditional Meis2 inactivation using the Wnt1-Cre2 mouse strain caused mandible and tongue hypoplasia, and ectopic bone formation at the expense of tongue development. These mandibular arch anomalies were accompanied by the loss of Hedgehog signaling in the mandibular epithelium, expanded RUNX2 expression in...
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