Klf4 is required for germ-layer differentiation and body axis patterning during Xenopus embryogenesis.

Klf4 is a transcription factor of the family of Kruppel-like factors and plays important roles in stem cell biology; however, its function during embryogenesis is unknown. Here, we report the characterization of a Klf4 homologue in Xenopus laevis during embryogenesis. Klf4 is transcribed both maternally and zygotically and the transcript is ubiquitous in embryos during germ-layer formation. Klf4 promotes endoderm differentiation in both Nodal/Activin-dependent and -independent manners. Moreover, Klf4 regulates anteroposterior body axis patterning via activation of a subset of genes in the Spemann organizer, such as Noggin, Dkk1 and Cerberus, which encode Nodal, Wnt and BMP antagonists. Loss of Klf4 function leads to the failure of germ-layer differentiation, the loss of responsiveness of early embryonic cells to inducing signals, e.g. Nodal/Activin, and the loss of transcription of genes involved in axis patterning. We conclude that Klf4 is required for germ-layer differentiation and body axis patterning by means of rendering early embryonic cells competent to differentiation signals.

Citation

Qing Cao, Xuena Zhang, Lei Lu, Linan Yang, Jimin Gao, Yan Gao, Haihua Ma, Ying Cao. Klf4 is required for germ-layer differentiation and body axis patterning during Xenopus embryogenesis. Development (Cambridge, England). 2012 Nov;139(21):3950-61

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PMID: 22992953

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