Tree of Life

The airways of your lungs branch out like a tree. When this branching goes wrong during development, it can cause severe lung problems and neonatal death. Here, researchers are investigating mechanisms underlying airway branching in mice lacking the protein svep1. During embryo development, this protein is found at the edges of lung tissue and the ends of branching airways, as captured in normal mice embryos via in situ hybridisation (pictured) – a technique that highlights messenger RNA encoding the protein of interest. Without svep1, fluorescence and light microscopy revealed embryos that had deformed lungs and excessive airway branching. Furthermore, the team found that svep1 was working together with another protein called fgf9 to correctly sculpt the formation of the branches. Svep1 is, therefore, important in shaping developing lungs by controlling airway branching and may be a potential therapeutic target for congenital lung diseases.

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 Nicole Foxworth and Julie Wells, and colleagues
• Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA and The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife (reviewed preprint), October 2024