Lhx1 is required for specification of renal progenitor cell field

The goal of this study is to investigate the molecular mechanism of lhx1 on regulation of pronephros formation during the early embryonic development. In the vertebrate embryo the kidney is derived from the intermediate mesoderm. The LIM-class homeobox transcription factor lhx1 is expressed early in the intermediate mesoderm and is one of the first genes to be expressed in the nephric mesenchyme. The animal cap cells can be induced by treatment of activin and retinoic acid to differentiate into pronephros tissue. In this study we investigated the role of Lhx1 in differentiation of pronephros by depleting lhx1 in the organ culture system. We generated the gene expression profile of early pronephros tissue, and demonstrated that expression of genes from all the kidney domains is affected by the absence of lhx1. Taken together our results highlight an essential role for Lhx1 in pronephros formation.

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Cirio MC, Hui Z, Haldin CE, Cosentino CC, Stuckenholz C, Chen X, Hong SK, Dawid IB, Hukriede NA