TY - JOUR TI - A distinct cardiopharyngeal mesoderm genetic hierarchy establishes antero-posterior patterning of esophagus striated muscle AU - Comai, Glenda AU - Heude, Eglantine AU - Mella, Sebastian AU - Paisant, Sylvain AU - Pala, Francesca AU - Gallardo, Mirialys AU - Langa, Francina AU - Kardon, Gabrielle AU - Gopalakrishnan, Swetha AU - Tajbakhsh, Shahragim A2 - Krauss, Robert A2 - Stainier, Didier Y A2 - Krauss, Robert A2 - Birchmeier, Carmen VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/09/19 SP - e47460 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e47460 DO - 10.7554/eLife.47460 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47460 AB - In most vertebrates, the upper digestive tract is composed of muscularized jaws linked to the esophagus that permits food ingestion and swallowing. Masticatory and esophagus striated muscles (ESM) share a common cardiopharyngeal mesoderm (CPM) origin, however ESM are unusual among striated muscles as they are established in the absence of a primary skeletal muscle scaffold. Using mouse chimeras, we show that the transcription factors Tbx1 and Isl1 are required cell-autonomously for myogenic specification of ESM progenitors. Further, genetic loss-of-function and pharmacological studies point to MET/HGF signaling for antero-posterior migration of esophagus muscle progenitors, where Hgf ligand is expressed in adjacent smooth muscle cells. These observations highlight the functional relevance of a smooth and striated muscle progenitor dialogue for ESM patterning. Our findings establish a Tbx1-Isl1-Met genetic hierarchy that uniquely regulates esophagus myogenesis and identify distinct genetic signatures that can be used as framework to interpret pathologies arising within CPM derivatives. KW - cardiopharyngeal mesoderm KW - esophagus striated muscles KW - Tbx1-Isl1-Met/HGF KW - myogenic migration KW - antero-posterior patterning JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -