| First Author | Davis RB | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | Development | Volume | 140 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 1272-81 |
| PubMed ID | 23406903 | Mgi Jnum | J:194470 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5473914 | Doi | 10.1242/dev.087379 |
| Citation | Davis RB, et al. (2013) BRG1 promotes COUP-TFII expression and venous specification during embryonic vascular development. Development 140(6):1272-81 |
| abstractText | Arteries and veins acquire distinct molecular identities prior to the onset of embryonic blood circulation, and their specification is crucial for vascular development. The transcription factor COUP-TFII currently functions at the top of a signaling pathway governing venous fate. It promotes venous identity by inhibiting Notch signaling and subsequent arterialization of endothelial cells, yet nothing is known about what regulates COUP-TFII expression in veins. We now report that the chromatin-remodeling enzyme BRG1 promotes COUP-TFII expression in venous endothelial cells during murine embryonic development. Conditional deletion of Brg1 from vascular endothelial cells resulted in downregulated COUP-TFII expression and aberrant expression of arterial markers on veins. BRG1 promotes COUP-TFII expression by binding conserved regulatory elements within the COUP-TFII promoter and remodeling chromatin to make the promoter accessible to transcriptional machinery. This study provides the first description of a factor promoting COUP-TFII expression in vascular endothelium and highlights a novel role for chromatin remodeling in venous specification. |
