The activity of the Nodal antagonist Cerl-2 in the mouse node is required for correct L/R body axis (original) (raw)

  1. Sara Marques1,
  2. Ana Cristina Borges1,2,
  3. Ana Cristina Silva1,2,
  4. Sandra Freitas1,
  5. Michelangelo Cordenonsi3, and
  6. José António Belo1,2,4
  7. 1Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal; 2Centro de Biomedicina Molecular e Estrutural, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-010 Faro, Portugal; 3Department of Histology, Microbiology, and Medical Biotechnologies, Section of Histology and Embryology, University of Padua, 35121 Padua, Italy

Abstract

Correct establishment of the left/right (L/R) body asymmetry in the mouse embryo requires asymmetric activation of the evolutionarily conserved Nodal signaling cascade in the left lateral plate mesoderm (L-LPM). Furthermore, the presence of Nodal in the node is essential for its own expression in the L-LPM. Here, we have characterized the function of cerl-2, a novel Nodal antagonist, which displays a unique asymmetric expression on the right side of the mouse node. cerl-2 knockout mice display multiple laterality defects including randomization of the L/R axis. These defects can be partially rescued by removing one nodal allele. Our results demonstrate that Cerl-2 plays a key role in restricting the Nodal signaling pathway toward the left side of the mouse embryo by preventing its activity in the right side.

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