Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway regulates branching by remodeling epithelial cell adhesion.

ABSTRACT: Although the growth factor (GF) signaling guiding renal branching is well characterized, the intracellular cascades mediating GF functions are poorly understood. We studied mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway specifically in the branching epithelia of developing kidney by genetically abrogating the pathway activity in mice lacking simultaneously dual-specificity protein kinases Mek1 and Mek2. Our data show that MAPK pathway is heterogeneously activated in the subset of G1- and S-phase epithelial cells, and its tissue-specific deletion results in severe renal hypodysplasia. Consequently to the deletion of Mek1/2, the activation of ERK1/2 in the epithelium is lost and normal branching pattern in mutant kidneys is substituted with elongation-only phenotype, in which the epithelium

SUBMITTER: Ihermann-Hella A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3945187 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature