PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

Prdm6 is essential for cardiovascular development in vivo.

  • Andreas Gewies,
  • Mercedes Castineiras-Vilarino,
  • Uta Ferch,
  • Nina Jährling,
  • Katja Heinrich,
  • Ulrike Hoeckendorf,
  • Gerhard K H Przemeck,
  • Matthias Munding,
  • Olaf Groß,
  • Timm Schroeder,
  • Marion Horsch,
  • E Loraine Karran,
  • Aneela Majid,
  • Stefan Antonowicz,
  • Johannes Beckers,
  • Martin Hrabé de Angelis,
  • Hans-Ulrich Dodt,
  • Christian Peschel,
  • Irmgard Förster,
  • Martin J S Dyer,
  • Jürgen Ruland

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081833
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 11
p. e81833

Abstract

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Members of the PRDM protein family have been shown to play important roles during embryonic development. Previous in vitro and in situ analyses indicated a function of Prdm6 in cells of the vascular system. To reveal physiological functions of Prdm6, we generated conditional Prdm6-deficient mice. Complete deletion of Prdm6 results in embryonic lethality due to cardiovascular defects associated with aberrations in vascular patterning. However, smooth muscle cells could be regularly differentiated from Prdm6-deficient embryonic stem cells and vascular smooth muscle cells were present and proliferated normally in Prdm6-deficient embryos. Conditional deletion of Prdm6 in the smooth muscle cell lineage using a SM22-Cre driver line resulted in perinatal lethality due to hemorrhage in the lungs. We thus identified Prdm6 as a factor that is essential for the physiological control of cardiovascular development.