Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28880281›Full record

ArticleNature2017

A right-handed signalling pathway drives heart looping in vertebrates.

Oscar H Ocaña, Hakan Coskun, Carolina Minguillón, Prayag Murawala, Elly M Tanaka, Joan Galcerán, Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli, M Angela Nieto

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.2field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. The Interaction Between theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Imaging Approaches and the Quantitative Analysis of Heart Development.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023
    Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2022
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Modeling Human Cardiac Arrhythmias: Insights from Zebrafish.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2022
    Review
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Oscar H OcañaInstituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), Avenida Ramón y Cajal, s/n, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Alicante, Spain.
Hakan CoskunInstituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), Avenida Ramón y Cajal, s/n, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Alicante, Spain.
Carolina MinguillónInstitut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
Prayag MurawalaDFG Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 105, Dresden, Germany.
Elly M TanakaDFG Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD), Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 105, Dresden, Germany.
Joan GalceránInstituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), Avenida Ramón y Cajal, s/n, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Alicante, Spain.
Ramón Muñoz-ChápuliUniversity of Málaga, Department of Animal Biology, E-29071 Málaga, Spain.
M Angela NietoInstituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), Avenida Ramón y Cajal, s/n, Sant Joan d'Alacant, Alicante, Spain.
Instituto de Neurociencias · ESTU Dresden · DEInstitut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona · ESUniversidad de Málaga · ES

Funding

European Research Council 322694
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Most animals show external bilateral symmetry, which hinders the observation of multiple internal left-right (L/R) asymmetries that are fundamental to organ packaging and function. In vertebrates, left identity is mediated by the left-specific Nodal-Pitx2 axis that is repressed on the right-hand side by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inducer Snail1 (refs 3, 4). Despite some existing evidence, it remains unclear whether an equivalent instructive pathway provides right-hand-specific information to the embryo. Here we show that, in zebrafish, BMP mediates the L/R asymmetric activation of another EMT inducer, Prrx1a, in the lateral plate mesoderm with higher levels on the right. Prrx1a drives L/R differential cell movements towards the midline, leading to a leftward displacement of the cardiac posterior pole through an actomyosin-dependent mechanism. Downregulation of Prrx1a prevents heart looping and leads to mesocardia. Two parallel and mutually repressed pathways, respectively driven by Nodal and BMP on the left and right lateral plate mesoderm, converge on the asymmetric activation of the transcription factors Pitx2 and Prrx1, which integrate left and right information to govern heart morphogenesis. This mechanism is conserved in the chicken embryo, and in the mouse SNAIL1 acts in a similar manner to Prrx1a in zebrafish and PRRX1 in the chick. Thus, a differential L/R EMT produces asymmetric cell movements and forces, more prominent from the right, that drive heart laterality in vertebrates.

Indexed as

MorphogenesisSignal TransductionActomyosinAnimalsCell MovementChick EmbryoEpithelial-Mesenchymal TransitionFemaleHeartHomeodomain ProteinsMesodermMiceMyocardiumSnail Family Transcription FactorsTranscription FactorsZebrafishActomyosinHomeodomain ProteinsPitx1 protein, zebrafishSnai1 protein, mouseSnail Family Transcription FactorsTranscription FactorsZebrafish Proteins

Identifiers

PMID28880281
PMCPMC5590727
OpenAlexW2750910159

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.