Congenital heart disease
- Gene-environment interaction impacts on heart development and embryo survival
Highlighted Article: Studies using Nkx2-5, Tbx1 and Fgfr1/Fgfr2 mutant mice reveal how a genetic predisposition to developing a heart defect can combine with short-term gestational hypoxia to cause defects and foetal death.
- WDR5 regulates left-right patterning via chromatin-dependent and -independent functions
Highlighted Article: The candidate congenital heart disease gene WDR5 is essential for left-right patterning via its role in ciliogenesis. WDR5, a chromatin modifier, regulates transcription of foxj1 but also has a nonchromatin role at the ciliary base.
- Unique developmental trajectories and genetic regulation of ventricular and outflow tract progenitors in the zebrafish second heart field
Summary: This study uncovers novel aspects of head muscle and heart development in zebrafish, information that will be crucial for deciphering the cellular mechanisms underlying zebrafish models of human congenital disorders.
- The NIMA-like kinase Nek2 is a key switch balancing cilia biogenesis and resorption in the development of left-right asymmetry
Highlighted article: Nek2 regulates both cilia biogenesis, by controlling centriole dynamics, and cilia resorption, via its interaction with Nup98, in the Xenopus left-right organizer.
- Casz1 is required for cardiomyocyte G1-to-S phase progression during mammalian cardiac development
Summary: Cardiac-specific deletion of the para-zinc-finger protein CASZ1 in mouse embryos leads to significant heart defects associated with impaired cardiomyocyte proliferation.