First published online April 30, 2007
Development 134, 1005e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Subdividing the urinary tract: a tail of buds
Kidney-filtered waste products are excreted from the body via the urinary
tract, which comprises the intra-renal collecting system and the ureter. These
structurally and functionally distinct tissues derive from the ureteric bud
(UB). Now Doris Herzlinger and co-workers report that two mesenchymal cell
populations - the nephrogenic mesenchyme and the tailbud-derived mesoderm
(TBM) - surround the UB, and that the ureter develops as a consequence of the
distal UB's close association specifically with the TBM
(p. 1967). Their
fate-mapping studies in the chick show that BMP4 secreted from the TBM induces
ureter morphogenesis and can do so when expressed ectopically in regions of
the UB normally fated to develop into the intra-renal collecting system,
revealing the multipotent nature of the proximal UB. The authors suggest that
the complex morphogenetic processes required to bring the TBM into close
contact with the UB might contribute to the high incidence of human congenital
defects that occur at this junction between the kidney and the ureter.
Related articles in Development:
- Tailbud-derived mesenchyme promotes urinary tract segmentation via BMP4 signaling
- Andrea Brenner-Anantharam, Cristina Cebrian, Richard Guillaume, Romulo Hurtado, Tung-Tien Sun, and Doris Herzlinger
Development 2007 134: 1967-1975.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
