Novel cell lines promote the discovery of genes involved in early heart development.
Clonal cell lines representing early cardiomyocytes would provide valuable reagents for the dissection of the genetic program of early cardiogenesis. Here we describe the establishment and characterization of cell lines from the hearts of transgenic mice and embryos with SV40 large T antigen expressed in the heart-forming region. Ultrastructure analysis by transmission electron microscopy showed the primitive, precontractile nature of the resulting cells, with the absence of myofilaments, Z lines, and intercalated disks. Immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, Northern blots, and oligonucleotide microarrays were used to determine the expression levels of thousands of genes in the 1H and ECL-2 cell lines. The resulting gene-expression profiles showed the transcription of early cardiomyocyte genes such as Nkx2.5, GATA4, Tbx5, dHAND, cardiac troponin C, and SM22-alpha. Furthermore, many genes not previously implicated in early cardiac development were expressed. Two of these genes, Hic-5, a possible negative regulator of muscle differentiation, and the transcription enhancing factor TEF-5 were selected and shown by in situ hybridizations to be expressed in the early developing heart. The results show that the 1H and ECL-2 cell lines can be used to discover novel genes expressed in the early cardiomyocyte.
Brunskill
E W
EW
Division of Developmental Biology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3300, USA.
Witte
D P
DP
Yutzey
K E
KE
Potter
S S
SS
D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000378:metabolism; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000091262:TEA Domain Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
D000199:Actins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; D000091262:TEA Domain Transcription Factors; C432156:Tead3 protein, mouse; C090090:Tgfb1i1 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors