Mice lacking the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) develop epithelial defects and a neurodegenerative disease and die within the first month of birth. By employing a conditional knock-in approach using the human EGFR cDNA mice humanised for EGFR (hEGFRKI/KI)were generated. Homozygous hEGFRKI/KI mice are viable and live up to six months. However, these mice are growth retarded and show skin and hair defects similar to Egfr-/- mutants. Interestingly, the neurodegeneration is fully rescued in hEGFRKI/KI mice, however, they develop a severe heart hypertrophy with semilunar valve abnormalities. Moreover, hEGFRKI/KI mice display accelerated chondrocyte and osteoblast differentiation, a phenotype that is also present in Egfr-/- mice and has not been previously described. The severity of the phenotypes correlates with the expression levels of the hEGFRKI allele, which is not efficiently expressed in epithelial and bone cells, but is expressed at similar and even higher levels as the endogenous Egfr in brain and heart. These results demonstrate that mice humanised for EGFR display tissue-specific hypomorphic phenotypes and describe a novel function for EGFR in bone development.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about Development’s journey and highlights from some its first issues, and explore the history of each of our sister journals: Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology
In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
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