The long-term goal of this project is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms controlling embryonic development of the digestive system. This will have a broad and significant impact on our understanding of human GI malformations, inform strategies to direct the differentiation of stem cells and provide new fundamental information on cell signaling in development and disease. Digestive system development is regulated by a series of growth factor signals between the endoderm and mesoderm, which are only partially understood. The fundamental mechanism of GI development are highly conserved between mammals and other vertebrate species and our previous studies using the experimental advantages of Xenopus embryos has helped inform strategies to induce human intestinal tissue from stem cells. Despite recent advances, fundamental gaps in our understanding of how foregut and hindgut progenitors are specified remain. In particular how the extracellular environment regulates combinatorial signaling dynamics at different stages of GI development, and how transcriptional specificity in response to these signal is achieved are largely unknown and the focus of this proposal. Our preliminary studies support the hypothesis that Secreted Frizzed Related Proteins (Sfrp) regulate the extracellular Fibronectin matrix to promote BMP signaling by a novel mechanism, and that Sfrps coordinate signaling crosstalk between BMP and Wnt growth factors to pattern the endoderm into foregut and hindgut progenitors.
Aim 1 will characterize the novel mechanisms by which Sfrps and Tolloid proteases modulate the Fibronectin matrix to regulate BMP signaling.
Aim 2 will determine the mechanisms that coordinate BMP and Wnt signaling.
Aim 3 will determine how differential activity of the BMP and Wnt signaling effectors Smad1 and beta-catenin are integrated on DNA cis-regulatory elements to control foregut versus hindgut transcription.

Public Health Relevance

The goal of this project is to elucidate the complex genetic pathways regulating embryonic development of the digestive system using an animal model. This is critical to understand congenital birth defects and digestive system diseases, which are a significant burden on human health. Our results will also continue to inform strategies to direct the differentiation of human stem cells into digestive organ tissue for disease modeling and ultimately cell replacement therapy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DK070858-07
Application #
8820910
Study Section
Development - 1 Study Section (DEV1)
Program Officer
Serrano, Jose
Project Start
2005-04-01
Project End
2018-03-31
Budget Start
2015-04-01
Budget End
2016-03-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$342,432
Indirect Cost
$118,713
Name
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Department
Type
DUNS #
071284913
City
Cincinnati
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
45229
Steimle, Jeffrey D; Rankin, Scott A; Slagle, Christopher E et al. (2018) Evolutionarily conserved Tbx5-Wnt2/2b pathway orchestrates cardiopulmonary development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:E10615-E10624
Rankin, Scott A; McCracken, Kyle W; Luedeke, David M et al. (2018) Timing is everything: Reiterative Wnt, BMP and RA signaling regulate developmental competence during endoderm organogenesis. Dev Biol 434:121-132
Stevens, Mariana L; Chaturvedi, Praneet; Rankin, Scott A et al. (2017) Genomic integration of Wnt/?-catenin and BMP/Smad1 signaling coordinates foregut and hindgut transcriptional programs. Development 144:1283-1295
Aslan, Yetki; Tadjuidje, Emmanuel; Zorn, Aaron M et al. (2017) High-efficiency non-mosaic CRISPR-mediated knock-in and indel mutation in F0 Xenopus. Development 144:2852-2858
MĂșnera, Jorge O; Sundaram, Nambirajan; Rankin, Scott A et al. (2017) Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Colonic Organoids via Transient Activation of BMP Signaling. Cell Stem Cell 21:51-64.e6
Zorn, Aaron M (2017) Development of the digestive system. Semin Cell Dev Biol 66:1-2
Nolan, Kristof; Kattamuri, Chandramohan; Rankin, Scott A et al. (2016) Structure of Gremlin-2 in Complex with GDF5 Gives Insight into DAN-Family-Mediated BMP Antagonism. Cell Rep 16:2077-2086
Agricola, Zachary N; Jagpal, Amrita K; Allbee, Andrew W et al. (2016) Identification of genes expressed in the migrating primitive myeloid lineage of Xenopus laevis. Dev Dyn 245:47-55
Rankin, Scott A; Han, Lu; McCracken, Kyle W et al. (2016) A Retinoic Acid-Hedgehog Cascade Coordinates Mesoderm-Inducing Signals and Endoderm Competence during Lung Specification. Cell Rep 16:66-78
Zhang, Zheng; Rankin, Scott A; Zorn, Aaron M (2016) Syndecan4 coordinates Wnt/JNK and BMP signaling to regulate foregut progenitor development. Dev Biol 416:187-199

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