Hedgehog signalling controls sinoatrial node development and atrioventricular cushion formation

Autor: Chaohui Zhang, Yuxin Li, Jiaheng Cao, Beibei Yu, Kaiyue Zhang, Ke Li, Xinhui Xu, Zhikun Guo, Yinming Liang, Xiao Yang, Zhongzhou Yang, Yunfu Sun, Vesa Kaartinen, Keyue Ding, Jikui Wang
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Open Biology, Vol 11, Iss 6 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2046-2441
DOI: 10.1098/rsob.210020
Popis: Smoothened is a key receptor of the hedgehog pathway, but the roles of Smoothened in cardiac development remain incompletely understood. In this study, we found that the conditional knockout of Smoothened from the mesoderm impaired the development of the venous pole of the heart and resulted in hypoplasia of the atrium/inflow tract (IFT) and a low heart rate. The blockage of Smoothened led to reduced expression of genes critical for sinoatrial node (SAN) development in the IFT. In a cardiac cell culture model, we identified a Gli2–Tbx5–Hcn4 pathway that controls SAN development. In the mutant embryos, the endocardial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) in the atrioventricular cushion failed, and Bmp signalling was downregulated. The addition of Bmp2 rescued the EndMT in mutant explant cultures. Furthermore, we analysed Gli2+ scRNAseq and Tbx5−/− RNAseq data and explored the potential genes downstream of hedgehog signalling in posterior second heart field derivatives. In conclusion, our study reveals that Smoothened-mediated hedgehog signalling controls posterior cardiac progenitor commitment, which suggests that the mutation of Smoothened might be involved in the aetiology of congenital heart diseases related to the cardiac conduction system and heart valves.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals