| First Author | Gong SG | Year | 1999 |
| Journal | Differentiation | Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 131-40 |
| PubMed ID | 10631810 | Mgi Jnum | J:59147 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1351084 | Doi | 10.1046/j.1432-0436.1999.6530131.x |
| Citation | Gong SG, et al. (1999) The role of Xmsx-2 in the anterior-posterior patterning of the mesoderm in Xenopus laevis. Differentiation 65(3):131-40 |
| abstractText | Many molecules are involved in defining mesodermal patterning of the Xenopus embryo. In this paper, evidence is provided that a member of the msx family of genes, the Xmsx-2 gene, is involved in anterior-posterior patterning of the mesoderm. A comparison of its sequence to another previously cloned msx-2 Xenopus homolog, Xhox-7.1' [45] showed that they are closely related. The Xmsx-2 gene is first expressed at midgastrulation predominantly in the dorsal part of the embryo. It showed a complex pattern of spatial expression, consistent with a role in patterning of the anterior-posterior axis. This inference is confirmed by gain-of-function experiments in which overexpressed msx-2 mRNA in developing Xenopus embryos resulted in embryos lacking anterior structures. Analysis of markers in mutant embryos showed that genes involved in ventral-posterior patterning such as Xhox-3, Xwnt-8, and Xvent-1 were upregulated, confirming the posteriorized nature of the embryos. We believe that the Xmsx-2 gene is involved in refining the patterning of the anterior-posterior part of the dorsal mesoderm after the initial signals determining the dorsal or ventral nature of the mesoderm have been specified. |
