BMP signaling promotes lateral vessel branching

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling is required for the growth and differentiation of multiple organs during embryonic development, including the cardiovascular system. However, its involvement in vascular development, in particular angiogenesis, has yet to be fully characterized. Previous work in the Bautch and Jin labs showed that BMP signaling is required for venous vessel sprouting during zebrafish development. Recent follow-up studies showed that while a vessel’s ability to respond to BMP is not restricted to arterial or venous vascular beds in mammalian vessels, BMP promotes lateral branching in these scenarios. Currently, we are examining mechanisms. Our results show that BMP signaling affects tip cell dynamics, and BMP also stimulates a subpopulation of stalk cells to sprout. Thus using multiple model systems, we show that BMP signaling increases lateral branching in vessel networks.