Congratulations to Whitney Edwards, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cell Biology and Physiology, and Frank L. Conlon, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Genetics, for publishing article, titled “The Tbx20-TLE interaction is essential for the maintenance of the second heart field”, in the journal Development.
The authors generated a mouse model with a two amino acid substitution in mice in the TBX20 protein that blocks the interaction of TBX20 with the chromatin remodeling factor Transducin-like Enhancer of Split (TLE). In vivo disruption of the TBX20-TLE interaction impaired crucial morphogenic events, including cardiac looping and chamber formation due to a depletion of secondary heart progenitor cells. Thus, establishing that the TLE-mediated repression is a primary mechanism by which TBX20 controls gene expression. The work was featured in Volume 150, Issue 21, November, 2023, of the journal Development and can be read online now.