... neural tube closure, genitourinary tract and hindgut defects. We show that, in Tmem132a mutant embryos, visceral endoderm fails to be excluded from the medial region of early hindgut, leading directly to the loss or malformation of cloaca-derived genitourinary and gastrointestinal structures...

...Ashley W. Seifert; Cortney M. Bouldin; Kyung-Suk Choi; Brian D. Harfe; Martin J. Cohn Malformations of the external genitalia are among the most common congenital anomalies in humans. The urogenital and anorectal sinuses develop from the embryonic cloaca, and the penis and clitoris develop from...

... a central role in GT development by simultaneously regulating patterning of the cloacal field and supporting an outgrowth signal. * Author for correspondence ( [email protected] ) 24 9 2009 © 2009. 2009 Shh Genital tubercle Cloaca Hox Mouse External genitalia (the penis...

.... 3B-D ), which overlapped, in part, with the DUE as defined by Fgf8 expression ( Fig. 3E ). This β-gal activity in the DUE persisted throughout multiple stages of GT development (see Fig. S2 in the supplementary material ). In Shh KO embryos, TopGAL activity was almost undetectable in the cloaca...

... ). Fig. 3. Fgf8 is activated following endodermal-ectodermal contact at the cloacal membrane. ( A-C ′) In situ hybridization for Shh shows the posterior limit of the gastrointestinal tract (cloaca)in Wnt5a +/- and Wnt5a -/- mice. Dotted semicircles mark posterior boundary...

... suggest that the cloaca, and its derivative, the urogenital sinus, contribute to the formation of these organs. However, it is unknown how the primary tissue lineages in, and adjacent to, the cloaca give rise to the above organs, nor is bladder formation understood. While it is known that sonic hedgehog...

... required for development of the cloaca (the common gut and urogenital opening). Using a novel assay for cloacal function, we find that larvae with reduced mid-gastrula Bmp signaling cannot properly excrete waste. We show that the cloacal defects result from alterations in the morphogenesis of the cloaca...

...Petr Valasek; Darrell J. R. Evans; Flavio Maina; Milos Grim; Ketan Patel The cloaca serves as a common opening to the urinary and digestive systems. In most mammals, the cloaca is present only during embryogenesis, after which it undergoes a series of septation events leading to the formation...