Control of Mouse Cardiac Morphogenesis and Myogenesis by Transcription Factor MEF2C
Qing Lin,
John Schwarz,
Corazon Bucana,
Eric N. Olson
*
Members of the myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) family of MADS
(MCM1, agamous, deficiens, serum response factor)-box transcription factors bind an A-T-rich DNA sequence associated with muscle-specific genes. The murine MEF2C gene is expressed in heart precursor
cells before formation of the linear heart tube. In mice homozygous for
a null mutation of MEF2C, the heart tube did not undergo
looping morphogenesis, the future right ventricle did not form, and a subset of cardiac muscle genes was not expressed. The absence of the
right ventricular region of the mutant heart correlated with
down-regulation of the dHAND gene, which encodes a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor required for cardiac
morphogenesis. Thus, MEF2C is an essential regulator of cardiac
myogenesis and right ventricular development.
Q. Lin and E. N. Olson, Department of Molecular Biology and
Oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry
Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235-9148, USA.
J. Schwarz, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine,
University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
C. Bucana, Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
