|
|
|
|||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online August 18, 2003
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.00687

1 Developmental Neurobiology, National Institute for Medical Research, The
Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK
2 Laboratory of Developmental Neurogenetics, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892,
USA
3 Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, TN 37232, USA
Author for correspondence (e-mail:
vpachni{at}nimr.mrc.ac.uk)
Accepted 9 June 2003
The paraxial mesoderm of the somites of the vertebrate embryo contains the precursors of the axial skeleton, skeletal muscles and dermis. The Meox1 and Meox2 homeobox genes are expressed in the somites and their derivatives during embryogenesis. Mice homozygous for a null mutation in Meox1 display relatively mild defects in sclerotome derived vertebral and rib bones, whereas absence of Meox2 function leads to defective differentiation and morphogenesis of the limb muscles. By contrast, mice carrying null mutations for both Meox genes display a dramatic and wide-ranging synthetic phenotype associated with extremely disrupted somite morphogenesis, patterning and differentiation. Mutant animals lack an axial skeleton and skeletal muscles are severely deficient. Our results demonstrate that Meox1 and Meox2 genes function together and upstream of several genetic hierarchies that are required for the development of somites. In particular, our studies place Meox gene function upstream of Pax genes in the regulation of chondrogenic and myogenic differentiation of paraxial mesoderm.
Key words: Somite, Myogenesis, Chondrogenesis, Homeobox
Related articles in Development:
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S.-i. Fukada, A. Uezumi, M. Ikemoto, S. Masuda, M. Segawa, N. Tanimura, H. Yamamoto, Y. Miyagoe-Suzuki, and S. Takeda Molecular Signature of Quiescent Satellite Cells in Adult Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells, October 1, 2007; 25(10): 2448 - 2459. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Karamboulas, G. D. Dakubo, J. Liu, Y. De Repentigny, K. Yutzey, V. A. Wallace, R. Kothary, and I. S. Skerjanc Disruption of MEF2 activity in cardiomyoblasts inhibits cardiomyogenesis J. Cell Sci., October 15, 2006; 119(20): 4315 - 4321. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Nakajima, M. Morimoto, Y. Takahashi, H. Koseki, and Y. Saga Identification of Epha4 enhancer required for segmental expression and the regulation by Mesp2 Development, July 1, 2006; 133(13): 2517 - 2525. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E Rampersaud, A G Bassuk, D S Enterline, T M George, D G Siegel, E C Melvin, J Aben, J Allen, A Aylsworth, T Brei, et al. Whole genomewide linkage screen for neural tube defects reveals regions of interest on chromosomes 7 and 10 J. Med. Genet., December 1, 2005; 42(12): 940 - 946. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. G. Loots, M. Kneissel, H. Keller, M. Baptist, J. Chang, N. M. Collette, D. Ovcharenko, I. Plajzer-Frick, and E. M. Rubin Genomic deletion of a long-range bone enhancer misregulates sclerostin in Van Buchem disease Genome Res., July 1, 2005; 15(7): 928 - 935. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. J. Gianakopoulos and I. S. Skerjanc Hedgehog Signaling Induces Cardiomyogenesis in P19 Cells J. Biol. Chem., June 3, 2005; 280(22): 21022 - 21028. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Petropoulos, P. J. Gianakopoulos, A. G. Ridgeway, and I. S. Skerjanc Disruption of Meox or Gli Activity Ablates Skeletal Myogenesis in P19 Cells J. Biol. Chem., June 4, 2004; 279(23): 23874 - 23881. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I. Rodrigo, P. Bovolenta, B. S. Mankoo, and K. Imai Meox Homeodomain Proteins Are Required for Bapx1 Expression in the Sclerotome and Activate Its Transcription by Direct Binding to Its Promoter Mol. Cell. Biol., April 1, 2004; 24(7): 2757 - 2766. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||