Cdc42 is crucial for facial and palatal formation during craniofacial development.

ABSTRACT: Craniofacial deformities with multifactorial etiologies, such as cleft palate and facial dysmorphism, represent some of the most frequent congenital birth defects seen in humans. Their pathogeneses are often related to cranial neural crest (CNC) cells. During CNC cell migration, changes in cell shape and formation, as well as maintenance of subcellular structures, such as filopodia and lamellipodia, are dependent on the complex functions of Rho family small GTPases, which are regulators of actin cytoskeletal organization. Cdc42, a member of the Rho family of small GTPases, is known to play critical roles in organogenesis of various tissues. To investigate the physiological functions of Cdc42 during craniofacial development, we generated CNC-derived cell-specific inactivated Cdc42 mutant mi

SUBMITTER: Oshima-Nakayama M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4926830 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature