May 3, 2013

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

When geneticists at the University of Minnesota began work on what they thought was a regulatory gene, they probably had no idea their work would redefine the tiny snippet of genetic material as a key player in stem cell differentiation.

According to the teams report in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the gene Mesp1 is responsible for differentiation of heart, blood and muscle cells from stem cells.

Previous research indicated that this gene was the master regulator for development of the heart, and that its activity prevented the differentiation of other cell types, said co-authorMichael Kyba, an associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical Schools Department of Pediatrics.

Our work reveals that this gene acts differently, and that it plays a role in the development of blood and skeletal muscle as well, Kyba said.The outcome depends on the chemical signals that cells expressing this factor sense in their environment.

The researchers chose Mesp1 because it was thought to be an important regulator of cardiac differentiation by blocking the delineation of stem cells into other types.

In the study, the researchers examined the activity of Mesp1 to see what it does at different points in the course of a stem cells development and found the gene can affect much more than previously believed.

Using pulse inductions of gene expression after stem cell differentiation, the team found that instead of promoting cardiac cells, the gene causes the development of precursors of different cell types.The effects of the gene could also be seen by fine-tuning the cells culture environment.

This is totally out of the blue, but our discovery brings some conflicting findings about Mesp1 together, said co-author Sunny Chan, a postdoctoral researcher at the University. Some previous studies reported Mesp1 could not make heart cells in certain contexts. We now know why.

Here is the original post:
Mesp1 Gene Links Heart, Blood And Skeletal Muscle

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