An Nfic-Hedgehog Signaling Cascade Regulates Tooth Root Development

This study aimed to perform transcriptome profiling of Nfic-/- and corresponding control tooth germ at root initiation stage to identify differentially expressed for key regulators of root development. Coordination between the Hertwig's Epithelial Root Sheath (HERS) and apical papilla (AP) is crucial for proper root development process. The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway and Nfic are both involved in tooth root development. mRNA profiling of apical half of tooth germ from 6 pairs of 4-day-old Nfic-/- and littermate Nfic+/- control mice were generated using Illumina Next-Seq 500本研究旨在对牙根起始阶段的Nfic基因敲除（Nfic-/-）小鼠牙胚及其对应对照样本开展转录组谱分析（transcriptome profiling），以鉴定参与牙根发育的关键调控因子的差异表达基因。赫特维希上皮根鞘（Hertwig's Epithelial Root Sheath, HERS）与根尖乳头（apical papilla, AP）之间的协同作用，对于正常牙根发育进程至关重要。刺猬信号（Hedgehog, Hh）通路与Nfic基因均参与牙牙根发育过程。本研究采用Illumina Next-Seq 500测序平台，对6对4日龄Nfic-/-小鼠及其同窝Nfic+/-杂合子对照小鼠的牙胚根尖半部完成了mRNA转录组测序。