NC State Researcher Receives Grant to Uncover Genetic Causes of Intestinal Deformity

A North Carolina State University researcher has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Heath  to study the genes responsible for intestinal formation. This work may lead to improved diagnosis and prevention of intestinal malrotation – or twisting – in human infants.

Dr. Nanette Nascone-Yoder, assistant professor of developmental biology in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, has previously demonstrated that the initial asymmetric, or uneven, lengthening of the gut tube in an embryo drives the process of rotation and looping that must occur for intestines to form correctly.

“We know that the gut tube lengthens asymmetrically, and that these asymmetries are purposeful – defined in such a way as to lead to exact looping and rotation,” Nascone-Yoder says. “What we don’t know is the exact mechanism involved – how different genes and molecules interact in order to cause these specific asymmetries.”

Nascone-Yoder’s next steps will be to look at the genes and molecules responsible for controlling the process of elongation, particularly at a transcription factor known as Pitx2, which is required for normal asymmetric elongation of the gut tube.

“Approximately one in 500 babies is born with some sort of intestinal malrotation, which poses significant risk for life-threatening complications,” Nascone-Yoder  says. “If we understand how the genes responsible for intestinal formation operate, it will give us insight into the causes of a host of common digestive organ birth defects.”

The Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences is part of NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

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