Blood and bones: Mechanical cues and Hippo signaling drive vascular invasion during limb formation

Although mechanical cues are known to influence the postnatal skeleton, the impact of bone cell mechano-transduction on early skeletal development remains less clear. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Collins et al. (2023) report that YAP/TAZ deletion in osteoblast precursors reduces Cxcl12 expression, leading to defects in bone vascularization. Although mechanical cues are known to influence the postnatal skeleton, the impact of bone cell mechano-transduction on early skeletal development remains less clear. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Collins et al. (2023) report that YAP/TAZ deletion in osteoblast precursors reduces Cxcl12 expression, leading to defects in bone vascularization. YAP and TAZ couple osteoblast precursor mobilization to angiogenesis and mechanoregulation in murine bone developmentCollins et al.Developmental CellDecember 22, 2023In BriefCollins et al. show that the mechanosensitive transcriptional regulators YAP and TAZ mediate the co-mobilization of osteoblast precursors with blood vessels, control growth plate remodeling through osteogenic-angiogenic crosstalk, and mediate mechanoregulation of fetal limb bone formation. Specifically, YAP and TAZ regulate a subset of vessel-associated osteoblast precursors (VOPs) that regulate angiogenesis, in part through Cxcl12 and collagen-integrin interactions. Full-Text PDF