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Vertebra
- Notochord-dependent expression of MFH1 and PAX1
cooperates to maintain the proliferation of sclerotome
cells during the vertebral column development.
Furumoto TA, Miura N, Akasaka T, Mizutani-Koseki Y, Sudo
H, Fukuda K, Maekawa M, Yuasa S, Fu Y, Moriya H,
Taniguchi M, Imai K, Dahl E, Balling R, Pavlova M,
Gossler A, Koseki H Dev Biol 1999 Jun 1;210(1):15-29
Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1
Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
- During axial skeleton development, the notochord
is essential for the induction of the sclerotome and
for the subsequent differentiation of cartilage
forming the vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs.
These functions are mainly mediated by the diffusible
signaling molecule Sonic hedgehog. The products of the
paired-box-containing Pax1 and the mesenchyme
forkhead-1 (Mfh1) genes are expressed in the
developing sclerotome and are essential for the normal
development of the vertebral column. Here, we
demonstrate that Mfh1 like Pax1 expression is
dependent on Sonic hedgehog signals from the
notochord, and Mfh1 and Pax1 act synergistically to
generate the vertebral column. In Mfh1/Pax1 double
mutants, dorsomedial structures of the vertebrae are
missing, resulting in extreme spina bifida accompanied
by subcutaneous myelomeningocoele, and the vertebral
bodies and intervertebral discs are missing. The
morphological defects in Mfh1/Pax1 double mutants
strongly correlate with the reduction of the mitotic
rate of sclerotome cells. Thus, both the Mfh1 and the
Pax1 gene products cooperate to mediate Sonic
hedgehog-dependent proliferation of sclerotome
cells.
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