心血管和呼吸系统需要精确的共同发育来为血液的加氧形成气体交换界面，但心脏和肺是怎样一起发育得呢？现在，通过利用一系列小鼠模型来进行细胞命运分析和功能丧失分析，Edward Morrisey及其同事在心脏的后极内识别出一组多能心肺祖细胞，它们协调心脏和肺的共同发育。作者提出，心脏和肺已形成了一个复杂的、精确的共同发育过程，来确保陆地动物在出生后能够存活。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Nature doi:10.1038/nature12358
Coordination of heart and lung co-development by a multipotent cardiopulmonary progenitor
Tien Peng, Ying Tian, Cornelis J. Boogerd, Min Min Lu, Rachel S. Kadzik, Kathleen M. Stewart, Sylvia M. Evans & Edward E. Morrisey
Co-development of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems is a recent evolutionary adaption to terrestrial life that couples cardiac output with the gas exchange function of the lung1. Here we show that the murine pulmonary vasculature develops even in the absence of lung development. We have identified a population of multipotent cardiopulmonary mesoderm progenitors (CPPs) within the posterior pole of the heart that are marked by the expression of Wnt2, Gli1 and Isl1. We show that CPPs arise from cardiac progenitors before lung development. Lineage tracing and clonal analysis demonstrates that CPPs generate the mesoderm lineages within the cardiac inflow tract and lung including cardiomyocytes, pulmonary vascular and airway smooth muscle, proximal vascular endothelium, and pericyte-like cells. CPPs are regulated by hedgehog expression from the foregut endoderm, which is required for connection of the pulmonary vasculature to the heart. Together, these studies identify a novel population of multipotent cardiopulmonary progenitors that coordinates heart and lung co-development that is required for adaptation to terrestrial existence.
