Skeletal cell YAP and TAZ combinatorially promote bone development

What is it about?

We conducted this study to resolve a long-standing controversy regarding the differential roles of the related proteins YAP and TAZ in bone development. These proteins regulate gene expression and play key roles in multiple biological processes including stem cell lineage commitment and organ size; however, whether their respective functions are equivalent or divergent is highly cell-type and context dependent. Recent reports on the roles of YAP and TAZ in bone cell culture models are contradictory, so understanding their combined functions in the context of physiological development and growth is essential. Here, we demonstrate that skeletal cell YAP and TAZ combinatorially promote bone development and growth, and their deletion results in mice which mimic the fragile-bone disorder, osteogenesis imperfecta. Further elucidation of this molecular signaling pathway in bone may contribute new insights into bone stem cell function and diseases such as osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta.

Featured Image