Hox Hearts

One leaky valve is all it takes to send things into disarray. We’re not talking about plumbing but the human heart. Congenital heart defects, such as a leaky valve, are sometimes caused by the failure of developing heart cells to mature correctly. Researchers focus on one group of cells vital for heart development called SHF cardiac progenitor cells. By analysing the messenger RNA in these cells in embryonic mouse hearts, they found the protein Hoxb1 was needed for correct maturation. Activating Hoxb1 in a subgroup of these cells disrupted the formation of the bottom right chamber of the heart as captured using fluorescence microscopy (pictured, right) when compared to hearts with normal Hoxb1 activity (left). Moreover, mice lacking Hoxb1 and a related protein, Hoxa1, had defects in the partitions between the top and bottom chambers of the heart. This provides clues to how certain congenital heart defects may arise.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Sonia Stefanovic and Brigitte Laforest, and colleagues
• Aix Marseille Univ, INSERM, Marseille Medical Genetics, Marseille, France
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, August 2020