Although ∼1% of humans are born with structural heart malformations, we know relatively little about the transcriptional programs that underpin the complex, orchestrated process of heart development. Now three papers in Development report that the T-box transcription factor Tbx20 occupies a central position in the pathways that control heart lineage specification and morphogenesis, from where it acts dose-dependently to influence embryonic heart development and adult heart function. Richard Harvey's (see p. 2451) and Sylvia Evans' (see p. 2475)groups both used gene targeting in mice to investigate Tbx20's role in cardiogenesis. Both report that Tbx20 null mice die in mid-gestation with severely malformed, underdeveloped hearts in which heart chamber formation had failed. Underlying these defects is a perturbed transcriptional program that alters cell proliferation patterns, the expansion of cardiac progenitors and the acquisition of tissue identity. In particular,both teams found that Tbx2 – a transcriptional repressor that inhibits...
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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 30 May 2025.
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