Agatha Ribeiro da Silva, Felix Gunawan, Giulia L M Boezio, Emilie Faure, Alexis Théron, Jean-François Avierinos, SoEun Lim, Shivam Govind Jha, Radhan Ramadass, Stefan Guenther, Mario Looso, Stéphane Zaffran, Thomas Juan, Didier Y R Stainier
Biomechanical forces, and their molecular transducers, including key mechanosensitive transcription factor genes, such as KLF2 , are required for cardiac valve morphogenesis. However, klf2 mutants fail to completely recapitulate the valveless phenotype observed under no-flow conditions. Here, we identify the transcription factor EGR3 as a conserved biomechanical force transducer critical for cardiac valve formation. We first show that egr3 null zebrafish display a complete and highly penetrant loss of valve leaflets, leading to severe blood regurgitation...
May 17, 2024: Science Advances