Applications of nuclear reprogramming and directed differentiation in vascular regenerative medicine.

As vertebrates proceed through embryonic development the growing organism cannot survive on diffusion of oxygen and nutrients alone and establishment of vascular system is fundamental for embryonic development to proceed. Dysfunction of the vascular system in adults is at the heart of many disease states such as hypertension and atherosclerosis. In this review we will focus on attempts to generate the key cells of the vascular system, the endothelial and smooth muscle cells, using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

Eps15R is required for bone morphogenetic protein signalling and differentially compartmentalizes with Smad proteins.

Transforming growth factor β superfamily members signal through Smad transcription factors. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) act via Smads 1, 5 and 8 and TGF-βs signal through Smads 2 and 3. The endocytic adaptor protein Eps15R, or 'epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor pathway substrate 15-related protein' is a component of EGF signal transduction, mediating internalization of the EGF receptor.

BRACHYURY and CDX2 mediate BMP-induced differentiation of human and mouse pluripotent stem cells into embryonic and extraembryonic lineages.

BMP is thought to induce hESC differentiation toward multiple lineages including mesoderm and trophoblast. The BMP-induced trophoblast phenotype is a long-standing paradox in stem cell biology. Here we readdressed BMP function in hESCs and mouse epiblast-derived cells.

A divergent Tbx6-related gene and Tbx6 are both required for neural crest and intermediate mesoderm development in Xenopus.

T-box family transcription factors play many roles in Metazoan development. Here we characterise Tbx6r, a unique Tbx6 paralogue isolated from the amphibian Xenopus. The evolution and developmental integration of this divergent T-box gene within the vertebrates reveals an unexpected level of plasticity within this conserved family of developmental regulators.

There's more than one frog in the pond: a survey of the Amphibia and their contributions to developmental biology.

The study of developmental biology has benefited greatly from the insights gained using amphibians as experimental models. Although Xenopus is currently the predominant model, much of our embryological knowledge derives from research on other amphibians. I will review some of these discoveries, made through astute choice of model organism, and I will examine the reasons behind the adoption of Xenopus as the standard for amphibian research.

The ARID domain protein dril1 is necessary for TGF(beta) signaling in Xenopus embryos.

ARID domain proteins are members of a highly conserved family involved in chromatin remodeling and cell-fate determination. Dril1 is the founding member of the ARID family and is involved in developmental processes in both Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans. We describe the first embryological characterization of this gene in chordates.