RESEARCH ARTICLE Gli3 utilizes Hand2 to synergistically regulate tissue-specific transcriptional networks Kelsey H Elliott1,2,3, Xiaoting Chen4, Joseph Salomone1,3,5, Praneet Chaturvedi1, Preston A Schultz1,2, Sai K Balchand1,2, Jeffrey D Servetas6, Aime´ e Zuniga7, Rolf Zeller7, Brian Gebelein1, Matthew T Weirauch1,4, Kevin A Peterson6*, Samantha A Brugmann1,2,8* 1Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, United States; 2Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, United States; 3Graduate Program in Molecular and Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, United States; 4Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, United States; 5Medical-Scientist Training Program, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, United States; 6Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, United States; 7Developmental Genetics, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 8Shriners Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, United States Abstract Despite a common understanding that Gli TFs are utilized to convey a Hh morphogen gradient, genetic analyses suggest craniofacial development does not completely fit this paradigm. Using the mouse model (Mus musculus), we demonstrated that rather than being driven by a Hh *For correspondence: threshold, robust Gli3 transcriptional activity during skeletal and glossal development required
[email protected] (KAP); interaction with the basic helix-loop-helix TF Hand2. Not only did genetic and expression data
[email protected] support a co-factorial relationship, but genomic analysis revealed that Gli3 and Hand2 were (SAB) enriched at regulatory elements for genes essential for mandibular patterning and development.