TY - JOUR
T1 - Apelin and Its Receptor Control Heart Field Formation during Zebrafish Gastrulation
AU - Zeng, Xin Xin I.
AU - Wilm, Thomas P.
AU - Sepich, Diane S.
AU - Solnica-Krezel, Lilianna
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank members of the L.S.-K. group for discussions and E. Raz, F. Marlow, and D. Yelon for critical comments. We thank I. Scott and D. Stainier for sharing results before publication and J. Clanton, H. Beck, and A. Bradshaw for excellent fish care. This work was supported by grants GM55101 and GM77770 from the National Institutes of Health.
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - The vertebrate heart arises during gastrulation as cardiac precursors converge from the lateral plate mesoderm territories toward the embryonic midline and extend rostrally to form bilateral heart fields. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate functions of the nervous and immune systems; however, their roles in gastrulation remain largely unexplored. Here, we show that the zebrafish homologs of the Agtrl1b receptor and its ligand, Apelin, implicated in physiology and angiogenesis, control heart field formation. Zebrafish gastrulae express agtrl1b in the lateral plate mesoderm, while apelin expression is confined to the midline. Reduced or excess Agtrl1b or Apelin function caused deficiency of cardiac precursors and, subsequently, the heart. In Apelin-deficient gastrulae, the cardiac precursors converged inefficiently to the heart fields and showed ectopic distribution, whereas cardiac precursors overexpressing Apelin exhibited abnormal morphology and rostral migration. Our results implicate GPCR signaling in movements of discrete cell populations that establish organ rudiments during vertebrate gastrulation.
AB - The vertebrate heart arises during gastrulation as cardiac precursors converge from the lateral plate mesoderm territories toward the embryonic midline and extend rostrally to form bilateral heart fields. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate functions of the nervous and immune systems; however, their roles in gastrulation remain largely unexplored. Here, we show that the zebrafish homologs of the Agtrl1b receptor and its ligand, Apelin, implicated in physiology and angiogenesis, control heart field formation. Zebrafish gastrulae express agtrl1b in the lateral plate mesoderm, while apelin expression is confined to the midline. Reduced or excess Agtrl1b or Apelin function caused deficiency of cardiac precursors and, subsequently, the heart. In Apelin-deficient gastrulae, the cardiac precursors converged inefficiently to the heart fields and showed ectopic distribution, whereas cardiac precursors overexpressing Apelin exhibited abnormal morphology and rostral migration. Our results implicate GPCR signaling in movements of discrete cell populations that establish organ rudiments during vertebrate gastrulation.
KW - DEVBIO
KW - HUMDISEASE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33847201433&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.devcel.2007.01.011
DO - 10.1016/j.devcel.2007.01.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 17336905
AN - SCOPUS:33847201433
SN - 1534-5807
VL - 12
SP - 391
EP - 402
JO - Developmental cell
JF - Developmental cell
IS - 3
ER -