# Morphogenesis and patterning of the vertebrate gut tube.

> **NIH NIH R21** · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · 2020 · $202,500

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 The vital functions or respiration and digestion are carried out by organs that arise from an embryonic
structure known as the gut tube. Despite its fundamental importance, morphogenesis of the gut tube has been
remarkably understudied, particularly when considered alongside concurrent events in the neural tube, heart,
limbs, and other tissues of the developing embryo. The purpose of this work is to study how this structure is
formed through an integration of biophysical and molecular approaches, with the goal of revealing how
progenitor cell movements in the endodermal epithelium are coordinated with differentiation to construct the
foregut, midgut, and hindgut through molecular control of mechanical forces.
 The gut tube, once formed, is a simple epithelial cylinder, yet it arises through spatiotemporally distinct
events that separately give rise to the foregut, midgut, and hindgut segments of the tube. These processes are
poorly understood, and in particular, how the formation of these three segments are coordinated to form a
single continuous tube remains largely unaddressed. Recently, we have turned to the chick embryo to study
gut tube morphogenesis, employing live in vivo imaging, electroporation-based gene misexpression, and
biomechanical/mathematical approaches to study formation of the hindgut. These studies revealed that much
of what was previously assumed from fate mapping studies about gut tube formation may be incomplete, if not
incorrect. The present application extends these approaches to study the biophysical role of collective cell
movements in foregut morphogenesis, and to elucidate how cells of the presumptive midgut contribute cells to
the forming foregut and hindgut. We will perform highly quantitative analyses of cell movements and physical
forces in the presumptive foregut and midgut endoderm, and study the emergence of antero-posterior
patterning in the context of cell movements along this axis, using single molecule fluorescent in situ detection
of established marker genes.
 Understanding of this critical step in vertebrate development will provide valuable insight into the
underlying causes of a broad range of gastrointestinal birth defects. Ultimately, the projects emanating from
this work will have important implications for the development of cell-based therapies where directed the
differentiation of progenitor cells toward distinct gastrointestinal and respiratory lineages is needed.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978856
- **Project number:** 5R21HD099529-02
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE
- **Principal Investigator:** Nandan L Nerurkar
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $202,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-16 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978856

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978856, Morphogenesis and patterning of the vertebrate gut tube. (5R21HD099529-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978856. Licensed CC0.

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