The role of the TGFβ type II receptor during heart development

TGFβ signalling has long been recognised as having a role in heart development. The central TGFβ type II receptor (Tgfbr2) is thought to be essential for epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) in the atrioventricular cushions. However, little is known about the roles of Tgfbr2 in heart development in vivo. This is largely because the Tgfbr2 knockout (KO) shows early embryonic lethality during heart valve development. To bypass the early lethality of the TRfbr2 KO mouse and to investigate the role of Tgfbr2 during heart development, a cre/loxP system was used to generate three different conditional knockout mouse models to specifically delete this receptor in (i) the AV myocardium, (ii) the ventricular myocardium and (iii) the endocardium.