Human Molecular Genetics Advance Access originally published online on May 13, 2009
Human Molecular Genetics 2009 18(14):2632-2642; doi:10.1093/hmg/ddp201
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Integration of IRF6 and Jagged2 signalling is essential for controlling palatal adhesion and fusion competence
1 Faculty of Life Sciences 2 Dental School, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK 3 Center for Oral Biology 4 Department of Biomedical Genetics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. Tel: +44 1612755620; Fax: +44 1612755082; Email: mike.dixon{at}manchester.ac.uk
Received December 16, 2008; Accepted April 28, 2009
In mammals, adhesion and fusion of the palatal shelves are essential mechanisms during the development of the secondary palate; failure of these processes leads to the congenital anomaly, cleft palate. The mechanisms that prevent pathological adhesion between the oral and palatal epithelia while permitting adhesion and subsequent fusion of the palatal shelves via their medial edge epithelia remain obscure. In humans, mutations in the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) underlie Van der Woude syndrome and popliteal pterygium syndrome. Recently, we have demonstrated that mice homozygous for a mutation in Irf6 exhibit abnormalities of epithelial differentiation that results in cleft palate as a consequence of adhesion between the palatal shelves and the tongue. In the current paper, we demonstrate that Irf6 is essential for oral epithelial differentiation and that IRF6 and the Notch ligand Jagged2 function in convergent molecular pathways during this process. We further demonstrate that IRF6 plays a key role in the formation and maintenance of the oral periderm, spatio-temporal regulation of which is essential for ensuring appropriate palatal adhesion.