Synergistic and independent roles for Nodal and FGF in zebrafish CPC migration and asymmetric heart morphogenesis
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Abstract
Asymmetric development of the vertebrate heart is driven by a complex sequence of morphogenetic cell movements, coordinated through precise interpretation of signaling cues by the heart primordia. Here, we show that Nodal signaling functions synergistically with FGF to stimulate the migration of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) during cardiac jogging, the first morphological asymmetry observed in zebrafish heart development. While Nodal directs the asymmetric migration of CPCs, we find FGF signaling to be dispensable for this asymmetry, suggesting that FGF plays a permissive rather than instructive role. We further demonstrate that Nodal signaling induces asymmetries in actin cytoskeletal dynamics that correlate with the directional migration of CPCs, while FGF instead generally promotes the actin cytoskeleton of CPCs. In addition to influencing jogging, FGF and Nodal synergize to ensure proper heart looping. We also provide evidence that FGF contributes to heart looping by promoting the differentiation of the secondary heart field. Together, these findings offer insight into how the spatiotemporal dynamics of signaling pathways regulate the cellular behaviors driving organ morphogenesis.
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Excerpt
‘These signals, they’re made for jogging’: The authors of this study find that Nodal and FGF signals regulate early zebrafish cardiac morphogenetic events and lead to asymmetry in migration patterns that result in cardiac jogging and cardiac looping.
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