Autophagy contributes to BMP type 2 receptor degradation and development of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterised by an increase in mean pulmonary arterial pressure which almost invariably leads to right heart failure and premature death. More than 70% of familial PAH and 20% of idiopathic PAH patients carry heterozygous mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type 2 receptor (BMPR2). However, the incomplete penetrance of BMPR2 mutations suggests that other genetic and environmental factors contribute to the disease.

A practical and efficient cellular substrate for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from adults: blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the potential to generate patient-specific tissues for disease modeling and regenerative medicine applications. However, before iPSC technology can progress to the translational phase, several obstacles must be overcome. These include uncertainty regarding the ideal somatic cell type for reprogramming, the low kinetics and efficiency of reprogramming, and karyotype discrepancies between iPSCs and their somatic precursors.

Defining synphenotype groups in Xenopus tropicalis by use of antisense morpholino oligonucleotides.

To identify novel genes involved in early development, and as proof-of-principle of a large-scale reverse genetics approach in a vertebrate embryo, we have carried out an antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MO) screen in Xenopus tropicalis, in the course of which we have targeted 202 genes expressed during gastrula stages. MOs were designed to complement sequence between -80 and +25 bases of the initiating AUG codons of the target mRNAs, and the specificities of many were tested by (i) designing different non-overlapping MOs directed against the same mRNA, (ii) injecting MOs differing in five bases, and (iii) performing "rescue" experiments. About 65% of the MOs caused X.

Neurotrophin receptor homolog (NRH1) proteins regulate mesoderm formation and apoptosis during early Xenopus development.

Recent experiments suggest that Xenopus Neurotrophin Receptor Homolog 1 (NRH1) proteins act through the planar cell polarity pathway to regulate convergent extension movements during gastrulation and neurulation. We show in this paper that NRH1 proteins are also required for the proper expression of mesodermally expressed genes such as Xbra and Chordin, and to a lesser extent, of Xwnt11. Loss of NRH1 function is followed, during gastrula and neurula stages, by a dramatic increase in apoptosis.

Targeted deletion of the novel cytoplasmic dynein mD2LIC disrupts the embryonic organiser, formation of the body axes and specification of ventral cell fates.

Dyneins have been implicated in left-right axis determination during embryonic development and in a variety of human genetic syndromes. In this paper, we study the recently discovered mouse dynein 2 light intermediate chain (mD2LIC), which is believed to be involved in retrograde intraflagella transport and which, like left-right dynein, is expressed in the node of the mouse embryo. Cells of the ventral node of mouse embryos lacking mD2LIC have an altered morphology and lack monocilia, and expression of Foxa2 and Shh in this structure is reduced or completely absent.

Characterizing embryonic gene expression patterns in the mouse using nonredundant sequence-based selection.

This article investigates the expression patterns of 160 genes that are expressed during early mouse development. The cDNAs were isolated from 7.5 d postcoitum (dpc) endoderm, a region that comprises visceral endoderm (VE), definitive endoderm, and the node-tissues that are required for the initial steps of axial specification and tissue patterning in the mouse.