Chemokine signaling guides regional patterning of the first embryonic artery

Arndt F. Siekmann; Clive Standley; Kevin E. Fogarty; Scot A. Wolfe; Nathan D. Lawson

doi:10.1101/gad.1813509

Chemokine signaling guides regional patterning of the first embryonic artery

¹Program in Gene Function and Expression, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01602, USA;
²Biomedical Imaging Group, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01602, USA;
³Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01602, USA

↵4 Present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Roentgenstr. 20, 48149 Muenster, Germany.

Abstract

The aorta traverses the body, yet little is known about how it is patterned in different anatomical locations. Here, we show that the aorta develops from genetically distinct endothelial cells originating from diverse locations within the embryo. Furthermore, chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4a (cxcr4a) is restricted to endothelial cells derived from anterior mesoderm, and is required specifically for formation of the lateral aortae. Cxcl12b, a cxcr4a ligand, is expressed in endoderm underlying the lateral aortae, and loss of cxcl12b phenocopies cxcr4a deficiency. These studies reveal unexpected endothelial diversity within the aorta that is necessary to facilitate its regional patterning by local cues.

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Footnotes

↵5 Corresponding authors.

E-MAIL nathan.lawson{at}umassmed.edu; FAX (508) 856-5460.
↵6 E-MAIL arndt.siekmann{at}mpi-muenster.mpg.de; FAX 49-251-70365-459.
Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1813509.
Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.
- Received April 21, 2009.
- Accepted August 17, 2009.