Click here to close Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a current version of Chrome, FireFox, or Safari.
XB-ART-37834
Cell 2006 Dec 15;1276:1137-50. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.10.028.
Show Gene links Show Anatomy links

Developmental origin of a bipotential myocardial and smooth muscle cell precursor in the mammalian heart.

Wu SM , Fujiwara Y , Cibulsky SM , Clapham DE , Lien CL , Schultheiss TM , Orkin SH .


???displayArticle.abstract???
Despite recent advances in delineating the mechanisms involved in cardiogenesis, cellular lineage specification remains incompletely understood. To explore the relationship between developmental fate and potential, we isolated a cardiac-specific Nkx2.5(+) cell population from the developing mouse embryo. The majority of these cells differentiated into cardiomyocytes and conduction system cells. Some, surprisingly, adopted a smooth muscle fate. To address the clonal origin of these lineages, we isolated Nkx2.5(+) cells from in vitro differentiated murine embryonic stem cells and found approximately 28% of these cells expressed c-kit. These c-kit(+) cells possessed the capacity for long-term in vitro expansion and differentiation into both cardiomyocytes and smooth muscle cells from a single cell. We confirmed these findings by isolating c-kit(+)Nkx2.5(+) cells from mouse embryos and demonstrated their capacity for bipotential differentiation in vivo. Taken together, these results support the existence of a common precursor for cardiovascular lineages in the mammalian heart.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 17123591
???displayArticle.link??? Cell


Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: kit nkx2-5