Advances in early kidney specification, development and patterning

Abstract

The kidney is a model developmental system for understanding mesodermal patterning and organogenesis, a process that requires regional specification along multiple body axes, the proliferation and differentiation of progenitor cells, and integration with other tissues. Recent progress in the field has highlighted the essential roles of intrinsic nuclear factors and secreted signaling molecules in specifying renal epithelial stem cells and their self-renewal, in driving the complex dynamics of epithelial cell branching morphogenesis, and in nephron patterning. How these developments influence and advance our understanding of kidney development is discussed.

Ca2+ coding and decoding strategies for the specification of neural and renal precursor cells during development

“…Orthologues of these same have also been shown to be expressed in the lateral mesoderm at the onset of neurulation in amphibians [39]. They include pax8, lhx1, osr1 and osr2 [44,45].…”

“…The pronephros is comprised of a large glomus, which filters waste into the coelom; a coiled tubule, which collects the filtrate via three ciliated nephrostomes, and a pronephric duct, which transports the waste to the cloaca [38]. The structure of the nephron and the molecular mechanisms involved in its formation are evolutionary conserved [39][40][41]. Because of its simple organization and rapid development (i.e., the pronephros is functional within just 2 days), the amphibian pronephros provides an easy model to study how pluripotent mesodermal cells are committed to a renal fate [42].…”

“…Several genes, which encode transcription factors have been identified in the mouse as playing an important role during renal development [39]. Orthologues of these same have also been shown to be expressed in the lateral mesoderm at the onset of neurulation in amphibians [39].…”

TRPP2-dependent Ca2+ signaling in dorso-lateral mesoderm is required for kidney field establishment inXenopus

“…These three structures represent organs of increasing complexity, which contain a similar basic unit of filtration, the nephron. The structure of the nephron and the molecular mechanisms involved in its formation are evolutionarily conserved (Dressler, 2009;Saxen, 1987;Vize et al, 2003). In Xenopus laevis tadpoles, the functional pronephros is made of a single nephron, thus providing a simple system to study how pluripotent mesodermal cells are committed to a renal fate (Jones, 2005).…”

“…Dorso-lateral mesodermal explants isolated at these stages differentiate into the glomus and tubule (Brennan et al, 1998;Brennan et al, 1999). Several genes encoding transcription factors whose murine orthologs are known to play an important function during renal development (Dressler, 2009) are expressed in this territory at the onset of neurulation. They include pax8, lhx1, osr1 and osr2 (Carroll and Vize, 1999;Tena et al, 2007).…”