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A genetic blueprint for cardiac development

Nature volume 407, pages 221–226 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Congenital heart disease is the leading non-infectious cause of death in children. It is becoming increasingly clear that many cardiac abnormalities once thought to have multifactorial aetiologies are attributable to mutations in developmental control genes. The consequences of these mutations can be manifest at birth as life-threatening cardiac malformations or later as more subtle cardiac abnormalities. Understanding the genetic underpinnings of cardiac development has important implications not only for understanding congenital heart disease, but also for the possibility of cardiac repair through genetic reprogramming of non-cardiac cells to a cardiogenic fate.

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Figure 1: Schematic of cardiac morphogenesis.
Figure 2: A genetic blueprint for heart development.

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Acknowledgements

D.S. is supported by grants from NIH, American Heart Association, March of Dimes and Smile Train. E.N.O. is supported by grants from NIH, Muscular Dystrophy Association, The Robert A. Welch Foundation and the D. W. Reynolds Foundation. The authors thank R. Sahadi and S. Johnson for assistance with graphics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, 75390-9148 , Texas, USA

    Deepak Srivastava & Eric N. Olson

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, 75390-9148, Texas, USA

    Deepak Srivastava

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Srivastava, D., Olson, E. A genetic blueprint for cardiac development. Nature 407, 221–226 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35025190

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