# Signaling interactions underlying Fusion at the Primary palate

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2020 · $194,375

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Early in embryonic development three facial prominences come together and fuse to form a continuous upper
lip. This multistep process often fails, leading to cleft lip in ~1/700 newborn infants. We know that fusion will fail
if the prominences do not grow towards each other, but it can also fail after the prominences touch if the
surface cells fail to reach out to and then intermingle with the surface cells of the neighboring prominence.
Apparently these dynamic behaviors of surface cells (reaching out and then intermingling) are tightly
controlled, because we only see these behaviors where facial prominences should be fusing (e.g. to form the
upper lip) and not elsewhere (e.g. the tongue to the roof of the mouth). However we know nothing about how
these dynamic behaviors are regulated. We have recently used single cell RNA sequencing to learn the
characteristics of the different cells that participate in fusion, including the transcription factors that give the
cells their identity, the signaling proteins that permit them to communicate with each other and the cytoskeleton
elements that direct their dynamic (or not so dynamic) behaviors. From these data we have discovered that a
special population of surface (basal epithelial) cells are found only at the fusion zone. These cells have a
unique signaling signature, as well as a unique program for cytoskeletal dynamics. We hypothesize that their
signaling signature turns on dynamic behaviors of adjacent cells to initiate and then propagate fusion. As a
corollary, we predict that modulating these signals should modulate the efficiency of fusion. To test these ideas
we will develop methods for simultaneously visualizing signaling, cell identity and dynamic behaviors (cellular
extensions) in fixed whole mouse faces during fusion. We will also develop methods for culturing faces during
fusion so that we can study the process in real time, outside of the mother. Finally, we will manipulate signaling
in these explants to ask whether we can modulate the efficiency of fusion. In this way, we expect to define the
cell populations that participate in fusion, the genetic programs that direct their unique behaviors and the
signaling interactions that coordinate and regulate fusion. If we are successful, we will identify signaling
pathways that regulate the efficiency of fusion, pathways that could be developed as targets for therapeutic
interventions to reduce the incidence of cleft lip in newborn infants.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9902403
- **Project number:** 5R21DE028613-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** JOAN E HOOPER
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $194,375
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9902403

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9902403, Signaling interactions underlying Fusion at the Primary palate (5R21DE028613-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9902403. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*