Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Department of Cardiac Development and Remodeling, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Elife. 2018 Dec 28;7:e38889. doi: 10.7554/eLife.38889.
Complex interplay between cardiac tissues is crucial for their integrity. The flow responsive transcription factor KLF2, which is expressed in the endocardium, is vital for cardiovascular development but its exact role remains to be defined. To this end, we mutated both paralogues in zebrafish, and while single mutants exhibit no obvious phenotype, double mutants display a novel phenotype of cardiomyocyte extrusion towards the abluminal side. This extrusion requires cardiac contractility and correlates with the mislocalization of N-cadherin from the lateral to the apical side of cardiomyocytes. Transgenic rescue data show that expression in endothelium, but not myocardium, prevents this cardiomyocyte extrusion phenotype. Transcriptome analysis of mutant hearts reveals that Fgf signaling is affected, and accordingly, we find that inhibition of Fgf signaling in wild-type animals can lead to abluminal cardiomyocyte extrusion. These studies provide new insights into how Klf2 regulates cardiovascular development and specifically myocardial wall integrity.
心脏组织之间的复杂相互作用对其完整性至关重要。在心脏内膜表达的、对心血管发育至关重要的可响应流动的转录因子 KLF2,其确切作用仍有待确定。为此,我们在斑马鱼中突变了这两个基因的同源基因,虽然单个突变体没有明显的表型,但双突变体表现出一种新的心肌细胞向心外膜侧挤出的表型。这种挤出需要心肌收缩力,并与心肌细胞中 N-钙黏蛋白从侧向到顶侧的定位错误相关。转基因拯救数据表明,内皮细胞而非心肌细胞中的表达可防止这种心肌细胞挤出表型。对突变心脏的转录组分析表明,Fgf 信号受到影响,相应地,我们发现抑制野生型动物中的 Fgf 信号可导致心外膜心肌细胞挤出。这些研究为 KLF2 如何调节心血管发育,特别是心肌壁完整性提供了新的见解。