...Jing Zhou; Yang Gao; Yu Lan; Shihai Jia; Rulang Jiang Cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects in humans. Whereas gene knockout studies in mice have shown that both the Osr2 and Pax9 transcription factors are essential regulators of palatogenesis, little is known about the molecular...

.... We found that expression of Osr2 , which encodes a zinc finger protein that antagonizes Msx1-mediated activation of odontogenic mesenchyme, was significantly upregulated in the molar tooth mesenchyme in Bmp4 f/f ;Wnt1Cre embryos. Msx1 heterozygosity enhanced maxillary molar developmental defects...

... proliferation through maintenance of cyclin D1 ( Ccnd1 ) and Ccnd2 expression. Moreover, we show that Shh-Smo signaling specifically regulates the expression of the transcription factors Foxf1a,Foxf2 and Osr2 in the developing palatal mesenchyme. Furthermore, we show that Shh signaling regulates Bmp2, Bmp4...

... of cleft palate. Neither the molecular processes governing normal palatogenesis nor the causes of cleft palate is well understood. In an expression screen to identify new transcription factors regulating palate development, we previously isolated the odd-skipped related 2 ( Osr2 ) gene, encoding a zinc...