First published online January 10, 2007
Development 134, 304e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Urogenital development under the spotlight
Amphibians and birds excrete waste products through the cloaca, an
endodermally lined chamber. In mammals, the cloaca gives rise to some of the
more specialised structures of the urogenital and reproductive organs. Quite
how the cloaca gives rise to these crucial organs has remained elusive and
understudied. Now, on p.
525, Haraguchi et al. shed much-needed light on this developmental
process. They reveal that Shh and Gli mutant mice display hypoplasia of the
external genitalia, internal urethra and bladder, indicating a requirement for
Hh signalling in their development. Using the Gli1-CreERT2
mouse, the authors have fate mapped Hh-responsive mesenchyme and found that
the bladder mesenchyme and external genitalia derive from Shh-responsive
peri-cloacal mesenchyme, revealing how the coordination of urogenital
formation is regulated by Hh signalling. The precise source, targets and
ligands required for urogenital and reproductive development require further
investigation, especially because future treatments of congenital urogenitary
defects that are less invasive than reconstructive surgery may stem from these
and future findings.
Related articles in Development:
- Molecular analysis of coordinated bladder and urogenital organ formation by Hedgehog signaling
- Ryuma Haraguchi, Jun Motoyama, Hiroshi Sasaki, Yoshihiko Satoh, Shinichi Miyagawa, Naomi Nakagata, Anne Moon, and Gen Yamada
Development 2007 134: 525-533.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
