ACVR1, ACVR1B, ACVR2A, ACVR2B, APC, ATF2, AXIN1, BMP10, BMP2, BMP4, BMP7, BMPR1A, BMPR1B, BMPR2, CCNE1, CCNE2, CDC6, CEBPB, CER1, CHUK, CTNNB1, DKK1, DVL1, E2F1, E2F2, E2F3, E2F4, E2F5, E2F6, FGF2, FZD1, FZD10, FZD3, FZD4, FZD5, FZD6, FZD7, FZD8, GATA4, GNAI1, GNAI2, GNAI3, GNAQ, GNAS, GNB3, GSK3B, HAND1, HAND2, HNF1A,... HNF1B, HNF4A, LEF1, LEFTY2, MAP3K7, MAPK14, MEF2C, MYH7, MYH7B, MYL2, NKX2-5, NODAL, NOX4, NPPA, NPPB, PRKCA, PRKCB, PRKCD, PRKCE, PRKCG, PRKCI, PRKCQ, PRKCZ, RB1, SMAD1, SMAD2, SMAD4, SMAD5, SMAD9, TBX20, TBX5, TCF3, TCF7L2, TDGF1, TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3, TGFBR1, TGFBR2, WNT11, WNT3A, WNT8A, WNT8B
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Heart is the first organ to form and function in the embryo, and all subsequent events in the life of the organism depend on the heart's ability to match its output with the organism's demands for oxygen and nutrients. Heart development is an elaborate pr ...ocess requiring cell specification, cell differentiation, cell migration, morphogenesis, and interactions among cells from several embryonic origins. The heart is formed through multiple developmental steps, which include the determination of the cardiac field in the mesoderm, differentiation of cardiac precursor cells, and maturation of the heart. Entry of cells into the cardiac lineage is dependent upon appropriate external signals coupled to the expression of a set of transcription factors that initiates the program for cardiac gene expression and drives the morphogenic events involved in formation of the multichambered heart. Research in mice, birds, amphibians, flies and other model systems, as well as in various cell culture systems, has led to the identification of multiple transcription factors and extracellular growth factors whose concerted actions specify the cardiac lineage in mesodermal progenitor cells. The earliest expressed transcription factors that initiate cardiac fate are the homeobox transcription factor NKX2.5 (NK2 Transcription Factor Related Locus-5) and members of the GATA (GATA Binding Protein) family of zinc finger transcription factors including, GATA4 (GATA Binding Protein-4). Equally important roles in heart development have been shown for members of the T-box (Tbx5 (T-Box-5), Tbx20 (T-Box-20)), basic helix-loop-helix (dHAND/HAND2 (Heart and Neural crest Derivatives expressed-2), eHAND/HAND1 (Heart and Neural crest Derivatives expressed-1)), and MADS (MCMI, Agamous, Deficiens, Serum response factor) domain (MEF2) families. Extracellular signals that act upstream of these factors have been primarily identified by their ability to induce cardiac differentiation in non-cardiac mesoderm. These signals belong to the BMP (Bone Morphogenetic Protein), FGF (Fibroblast Growth Factor), and WNT (Wingless-related MMTV integration site) families of Growth Factors and also include secreted WNT antagonists such as Dkk1 (Dickkopf1) and Crescent.
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