First Author | de Souza FS | Year | 1999 |
Journal | EMBO J | Volume | 18 |
Issue | 21 | Pages | 6062-72 |
PubMed ID | 10545117 | Mgi Jnum | J:103369 |
Mgi Id | MGI:3609291 | Doi | 10.1093/emboj/18.21.6062 |
Citation | de Souza FS, et al. (1999) The zinc finger gene Xblimp1 controls anterior endomesodermal cell fate in Spemann's organizer. EMBO J 18(21):6062-72 |
abstractText | The anterior endomesoderm of the early Xenopus gastrula is a part of Spemann's organizer and is important for head induction. Here we describe Xblimp1, which encodes a zinc finger transcriptional repressor expressed in the anterior endomesoderm. Xblimp1 represses trunk mesoderm and induces anterior endomesoderm in a cooperative manner with the pan-endodermal gene Mix.1. Furthermore, Xblimp1 can cooperate with the BMP inhibitor chordin to induce ectopic heads, while a dominant-negative Xblimp1 inhibits head formation. The head inducer cerberus is positively regulated by Xblimp1 and is able to rescue microcephalic embryos caused by dominant-negative Xblimp1. Our results indicate that Xblimp1 is required for anterior endomesodermal cell fate and head induction. |