Endodermal pouch-expressed dmrt2b is important for pharyngeal cartilage formation

• Published in: Biology open Vol. 7; no. 12
• Main Authors: Li, Linwei, Mao, Aihua, Wang, Peng, Ning, Guozhu, Cao, Yu, Wang, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Company of Biologists Ltd 2018; The Company of Biologists
• Subjects: Cartilage; Cell differentiation; Cell proliferation; Craniofacial cartilage; crossveinless 2; cxcl12b; Differentiation; dmrt2b; Endoderm; Endodermal pouch; Foregut; Genes; Inactivation; Molecular modelling; Neural crest; Pharynx; Smad protein; Transcription factors; Zebrafish; cxcl12b; Endodermal pouch; Craniofacial cartilage; dmrt2b; crossveinless 2
• ISSN: 2046-6390; 2046-6390
• DOI: 10.1242/bio.035444

Pharyngeal pouches, a series of outpocketings derived from the foregut endoderm, are essential for craniofacial skeleton formation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying endodermal pouch-regulated head cartilage development are not fully understood. In this study, we find that zebrafish
, a gene encoding Doublesex- and Mab-3-related transcription factor, is specifically expressed in endodermal pouches and required for normal pharyngeal cartilage development. Loss of
doesn't affect cranial neural crest (CNC) specification and migration, but leads to prechondrogenic condensation defects by reducing
expression after CNC cell movement into the pharyngeal arches. Moreover,
inactivation results in reduced proliferation and impaired differentiation of CNC cells. We also show that
suppresses
expression in endodermal pouches to maintain BMP/Smad signaling in the arches, thereby facilitating CNC cell proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation. This work provides insight into how transcription factors expressed in endodermal pouches regulate pharyngeal skeleton development through tissue-tissue interactions.