The lung and trachea originate in the ventral foregut, but their separation from the future oesophagus remains poorly understood. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Jurado et al report that ASCIZ, a Zn2+-finger protein previously linked to the repair of methylating and oxidative DNA damage, also has an unexpected function during early lung development. Although embryos lacking Asciz are able to generate respiratory precursors, they never form lung buds, and separation of the trachea from the foregut stalls at an early stage. The authors propose that ASCIZ may function as a new transcriptional regulator of foregut separation.
Image Credit: Ian Smyth
Perspective
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