| First Author | Saga Y | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Genes Dev | Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 14 | Pages | 1827-39 |
| PubMed ID | 9242490 | Mgi Jnum | J:42014 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:894944 | Doi | 10.1101/gad.11.14.1827 |
| Citation | Saga Y, et al. (1997) Mesp2: a novel mouse gene expressed in the presegmented mesoderm and essential for segmentation initiation. Genes Dev 11(14):1827-39 |
| abstractText | We isolated a novel bHLH protein gene Mesp2 (for mesoderm posterior 2) that cross-hybridizes with Mesp1 expressed in the early mouse mesoderm. Mesp2 is expressed in the rostral presomitic mesoderm, but down-regulated immediately after the formation of the segmented somites. To determine the function of MesP2 protein (MesP2) in somitogenesis, we generated Mesp2-deficient mice by gene targeting. The homozygous Mesp2 (-/-) mice died shortly after birth and had fused vertebral columns and dorsal root ganglia, with impaired sclerotomal polarity. The earliest defect in the homozygous embryos was a lack of segmented somites. Their disruption of the metameric features, altered expression of Mox-1, Pax-1, and Dll1, and lack of expression of Notch1, Notch2, and FGFR1 suggested that MesP2 controls sclerotomal polarity by regulating the signaling systems mediated by notch-delta and FGF, which are essential for segmentation. |
