title: Requirements for Jag1-Rbpj mediated Notch signaling during early mouse lens development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  During vertebrate lens development, the lens placode in the embryonic ectoderm invaginates into a lens vesicle, which then separates from the surface epithelium, followed by two waves of fiber cell differentiation. In the mouse, multiple labs have shown that Jag1-Notch signaling is critically required during the second wave of lens fiber cell formation. However, Notch signaling appears to play no obvious role during lens induction or morphogenesis, although multiple pathway genes are expressed at these earlier stages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we explored functions for Notch signaling specifically during early lens development, by using the early-acting AP2α-Cre driver to delete Jag1 or Rbpj. We found that Jag1 and Rbpj are not required during lens induction, but are necessary for proper lens vesicle separation from the surface ectoderm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that precise levels of Notch signaling are essential during lens vesicle morphogenesis. In addition, AP2α-Cre-mediated deletion of Rbpj resulted in embryos with cardiac outflow tract and liver deformities, and perinatal lethality.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.
authors.forename: Tien T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Kevin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Conley
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Mead
authors.forename: Sheldon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Yutzey
authors.forename: Nadean L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D033962:Adaptor Protein Complex 2 / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000235:genetics; D051819:Immunoglobulin J Recombination Signal Sequence-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000072100:Jagged-1 Protein; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism*; D000072099:Serrate-Jagged Proteins; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D033962:Adaptor Protein Complex 2; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D051819:Immunoglobulin J Recombination Signal Sequence-Binding Protein; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; C000606274:Jag1 protein, mouse; D000072100:Jagged-1 Protein; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C497571:Rbpj protein, mouse; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D000072099:Serrate-Jagged Proteins; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases