Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 349, Issue 2, 15 January 2011, Pages 494-502
Developmental Biology

Endothelial cell talin1 is essential for embryonic angiogenesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.11.010Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Using Tln1fl/fl;CreER mice, we show that tamoxifen-induced inactivation of the talin1 gene throughout the embryo produces an angiogenesis phenotype that is restricted to newly forming blood vessels. The phenotype has a rapid onset in early embryos, resulting in vessel defects by 48 h and death of the embryo within 72 h. Very similar vascular defects were obtained using a Tie2-Cre endothelial cell-specific Tln1 knockout, a phenotype that was rescued by expression of a Tln1 mini-gene in endothelial cells. We show that endothelial cells, unlike most other cell types, do not express talin2, which can compensate for loss of talin1, and demonstrate for the first time that endothelial cells in vivo lacking talin1 are unable to undergo the cell spreading and flattening required to form vessels.

Research Highlights

► Endothelial cells express only talin1 and not the highly related talin2. ► Inactivation of the talin1 gene in the embryo results in a rapid onset angiogenesis defect. ► Tln1 null endothelial cells in vivo are unable to form lumen-containing vessels. ► Talin1 and integrin-mediated adhesion are required from the earliest stages of angiogenesis.

Keywords

Angiogenesis
Cell adhesion
Endothelial cells
Talin1
Talin2

Cited by (0)