Activation of Met tyrosine kinase by hepatocyte growth factor is essential for internal organogenesis in Xenopus embryo.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) specifically activates Met tyrosine kinase receptor, leading to mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic responses in a wide variety of cells. To know a role of HGF in Xenopus embryogenesis, loss-of-function mutation was introduced by dominant expression of truncated tyrosine kinase-negative Met. When tyrosine kinase-negative Met mRNA was micro-injected into two-cell to eight-cell stages Xenopus embryos, the liver development was mostly impaired and structures of pronephros and the gut were grossly underdeveloped in the restricted, late stage of development. These results strongly suggest that functional coupling between HGF and Met is essential for the development of internal organs originated from primitive gut and possibly involved in embryonic skeletogenesis. Together with developmental abnormality in mice mutated with HGF or Met gene, essential role of HGF for liver development is highly conserved from amphibian to mammalian species.