Endothelial-specific ablation of serum response factor causes hemorrhaging, yolk sac vascular failure, and embryonic lethality.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Serum response factor (SRF), a member of the MADS box family of nuclear transcription factors, plays an important role in cardiovascular development and function. Numerous studies demonstrate a central role for SRF in regulating smooth and cardiac muscle cell gene expression. Consistent with this, loss of SRF function blocks differentiation of coronary vascular smooth muscle cells from proepicardial precursors, indicating SRF is necessary for coronary vasculogenesis. The role of SRF in endothelial cell contribution during early vascular development, however, has not been addressed. To investigate this, we generated transgenic mice lacking expression of SRF in endothelial cells. Mice expressing Cre recombinase (Tie2Cre+) under Tie2 promoter control were bred to mice homoz

SUBMITTER: Holtz ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2442838 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature