NPAS3 is a trachealess homolog critical for lung development and homeostasis
Open accessAbstract
Trachealess (Trh) is a PAS domain transcription factor regulating Drosophila tracheogenesis. No other Trh homolog has been associated with a respiratory phenotype. Seeking homolog(s) regulating lung development, we screened murine genomic DNA using trh oligonucleotides, identifying only Npas3. Npas3 mRNA peaks in lung from E10.5 to E13.5, verified by sequencing, with immunostaining in airway epithelial cells. Npas3-null mice have reduced lung branching morphogenesis but are viable prenatally. Npas3-null newborns die in respiratory distress, with diminished alveolarization, decreased Shh, Fgf9, Fgf10, and Bmp4 mRNAs, and increased Spry2, consistent with reduced FGF signaling. Exogenous FGF10 rescues branching morphogenesis in Npas3-null lungs. In promoter reporter assays, NPAS3 directly upregulates Shh and represses Spry2. Npas3(+/-) mice have a milder lung phenotype, surviving postnatally, but develop emphysema and airways hyperreactivity. Therefore, absence of a developmentally expressed transcription factor can alter downstream gene expression and multiple signaling pathways in organogenesis. NPAS3 haploinsufficiency may also lead to emphysema and asthma.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Npas3−/− mice die at birth by respiratory failure.
“Npas3−/− mice die at birth by respiratory failure (Zhou et al. 2009).”
From The Human Accelerated Region HAR202 Controls <i>NPAS3</i> Expression in the Developing Forebrain Displaying Differential Enhancer Activity Between Modern and Archaic Human Sequences (2024) · cites this paper as Zhou et al. 2009
Cites
The development of Drosophila melanogaster
Ingham, P. W. (1994) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/0168-9525(90)90017-z · Cited by 3,158 · see citing works
A genome-wide search for asthma susceptibility loci in ethnically diverse populations
(1997) · Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/ng0497-389 · Cited by 702 · see citing works
The mammalian basic helix–loop–helix/PAS family of transcriptional regulators
Kewley, R. J., Whitelaw, M. L., & Chapman‐Smith, A. (2003) · The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology · doi:10.1016/s1357-2725(03)00211-5 · Cited by 590 · see citing works
Retinoic acid treatment abrogates elastase-induced pulmonary emphysema in rats
Massaro, G. D. C., & Massaro, D. J. (1997) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/nm0697-675 · Cited by 536 · see citing works
Genetic Control of Branching Morphogenesis
Metzger, R. J., & Krasnow, M. A. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.284.5420.1635 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Hogan, B. L. M. (1999) · Cell · doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80562-0 · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Development of neuroendocrine lineages requires the bHLH–PAS transcription factor SIM1Preprint
Michaud, J. L., Rosenquist, T. A., May, N. R., & Fan, C. (1998) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.12.20.3264 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Affolter, M., Bellusci, S., Itoh, N., Shilo, B., Thiery, J. P., & Werb, Z. (2003) · Developmental Cell · doi:10.1016/s1534-5807(02)00410-0 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
trachealess encodes a bHLH-PAS protein that is an inducer of tracheal cell fates in Drosophila.Preprint
Wilk, R., Weizman, I., & Shilo, B. (1996) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.10.1.93 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
Reisz‐Porszasz, S., Probst, M. R., Fukunaga, B. N., & Hankinson, O. (1994) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.14.9.6075 · Cited by 255 · see citing works
Erbel-Sieler, C., Dudley, C., Zhou, Y., Wu, X., Estill, S. J., Han, T., Diaz-Arrastia, R., Brunskill, E. W., Potter, S. S., & McKnight, S. L. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0405310101 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Galambos, C., Ng, Y., Ali, A., Noguchi, A., Lovejoy, S., D'Amore, P. A., & deMello, D. E. (2002) · American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology · doi:10.1165/ajrcmb.27.2.4703 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
The PAS domain confers target gene specificity of Drosophila bHLH/PAS proteins.Preprint
Zelzer, E., Wappner, P., & Shilo, B. (1997) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.11.16.2079 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Pongratz, I., Antonsson, C., Whitelaw, M., & Poellinger, L. (1998) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.18.7.4079 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Identification of FGF10 Targets in the Embryonic Lung Epithelium during Bud Morphogenesis
Lü, J., Izvolsky, K. I., Qian, J., & Cardoso, W. V. (2004) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m410714200 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Abnormal neurodevelopment, neurosignaling and behaviour in Npas3-deficient mice
Brunskill, E. W., Ehrman, L. A., Williams, M. T., Klanke, J., Hammer, D., Schaefer, T. L., Sah, R., Il, G. W. D., Potter, S. S., & Vorhees, C. V. (2005) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04291.x · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Reisz‐Porszasz, S., Probst, M. R., Fukunaga, B. N., et al. (1994) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.14.9.6075-6086.1994 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Bombesin-like peptide mediates lung injury in a baboon model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Sunday, M. E., Yoder, B. A., Cuttitta, F. F., Haley, K. J., & Emanuel, R. L. (1998) · Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1172/jci2329 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationBlumenthal, M. N., Langefeld, C. D., Beaty, T. H., Bleecker, E. R., Ober, C., Lester, L. A., Lange, E. M., Barnes, K. C., Wolf, R. L., King, R. A., et al. (2004) · Human Genetics · doi:10.1007/s00439-003-1030-5 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
FGF-10 inducesSP-CandBmp4and regulates proximal-distal patterning in embryonic tracheal epithelium
Hyatt, B. A., Shangguan, X., & Shannon, J. M. (2004) · American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology · doi:10.1152/ajplung.00033.2004 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Sim2 Mutants Have Developmental Defects Not Overlapping with Those of Sim1 Mutants
Goshu, E., Jin, H., Fasnacht, R., Sepenski, M., Michaud, J. L., & Fan, C. (2002) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.22.12.4147-4157.2002 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
p63 Overexpression Induces the Expression of Sonic Hedgehog
Caserta, T. M., Kommagani, R., Yuan, Z., Robbins, D. J., Mercer, C. A., & Kadakia, M. (2006) · Molecular Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-05-0149 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
What transgenic mice tell us about neurodegenerative disease
Gurney, M. E. (2000) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(200003)22:3 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Functional analysis of the human Sprouty2 gene promoter
Ding, W., Bellusci, S., Shi, W., & Warburton, D. (2003) · Gene · doi:10.1016/j.gene.2003.09.004 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Branching morphogenesis in the Drosophila tracheal system.
Shilo, B., Gabay, L., Glazer, L., Reichman‐Fried, M., Wappner, P., Wilk, R., & Zelzer, E. (1997) · PubMed · Cited by 30 · see citing works
MaryAnn, V. V. (2006) · Frontiers in bioscience · doi:10.2741/2108 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
NPAS1 Regulates Branching Morphogenesis in Embryonic Lung
Levesque, B. M., Zhou, S., Shan, L., Johnston, P., Kong, Y., Degan, S., & Sunday, M. E. (2006) · American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology · doi:10.1165/rcmb.2006-0314oc · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationMacDonald, J. I. S., & Possmayer, F. (1995) · Biochemical Journal · doi:10.1042/bj3120425 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Branch‐specific migration cues in the Drosophila tracheal system
Rosin, D., & Shilo, B. (2002) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.10041 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
[Respiratory allergic disease genes].
Demoly, P. M. (2003) · PubMed · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Lung development: orchestrating the generation and regeneration of a complex organ
Herriges, M., & Morrisey, E. E. (2014) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.098186 · Cited by 613 · see citing works
Perochon, J., Yu, Y., Aughey, G., Medina, A. B., Southall, T. D., & Cordero, J. B. (2021) · Nature Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/s41556-021-00676-z · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Ding, L., Abebe, T., Beyene, J., Wilke, R. A., Goldberg, A., Woo, J. G., Martin, L. J., Rothenberg, M. E., Rao, M. B., Hershey, G. K. K., et al. (2013) · Human Genomics · doi:10.1186/1479-7364-7-16 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Trachealess (Trh) regulates all tracheal genes during Drosophila embryogenesis
Chung, S., Chavez, C., & Andrew, D. J. (2011) · Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.09.014 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Yücesoy, B., Kaufman, K. M., Lummus, Z. L., Weirauch, M. T., Zhang, G., Cartier, A., Boulet, L., Sastre, J., Quirce, S., Tarlo, S. M., et al. (2015) · Toxicological Sciences · doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfv084 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Embryonic multipotent progenitors remodel theDrosophilaairways during metamorphosis
Pitsouli, C., & Perrimon, N. (2010) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.056408 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Neuronal PAS domain proteins 1 and 3 are master regulators of neuropsychiatric risk genes
Michaelson, J. J., Shin, M.-K., Koh, J.-Y., Brueggeman, L., Zhang, A., Katzman, A., McDaniel, L., Fang, M., Pufall, M., & Pieper, A. A. (2017) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.03.021 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Association of NPAS3 exonic variation with schizophrenia
MacIntyre, G., Alford, T., Xiong, L., Rouleau, G. A., Tibbo, P. G., & Cox, D. W. (2010) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.04.002 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Mechanisms of Na+ uptake from freshwater habitats in animals
Lee, C. E., Charmantier, G., & Lorin‐Nebel, C. (2022) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.1006113 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Barnett, C., Mencel, J. J., Gécz, J., Waters, W., Kirwin, S. M., Vinette, K. M. B., Uppill, M., & Nicholl, J. K. (2012) · American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A · doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.35456 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Wu, X., Du, X., Yang, Y., Liu, X., Liu, X., Zhang, N., Li, Y., Jiang, X., Jiang, Y., & Yang, Z. (2020) · Life Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2020.118816 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Frints, S. G. M., Ozantürk, A., Criado, G. R., Grasshoff, U., de Hoon, B., Field, M. J., Manouvrier‐Hanu, S., Hickey, S. E., Kammoun, M., Gripp, K. W., et al. (2018) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-018-0065-x · Cited by 32 · see citing works
NPAS3 Demonstrates Features of a Tumor Suppressive Role in Driving the Progression of Astrocytomas
Moreira, F., Kiehl, T., So, K., Ajeawung, N. F., Honculada, C., Gould, P. V., Pieper, R. O., & Kamnasaran, D. (2011) · American Journal Of Pathology · doi:10.1016/j.ajpath.2011.03.044 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Npas3 deficiency impairs cortical astrogenesis and induces autistic-like behaviors
Li, Y., Fan, T., Li, X., Liu, L., Mao, F., Li, Y., Miao, Z., Zeng, C., Song, W., Pan, J., et al. (2022) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111289 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationGould, P., & Kamnasaran, D. (2011) · Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia · doi:10.1111/j.1439-0264.2010.01059.x · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Molecular analysis of NPAS3 functional domains and variants
Luoma, L. M., & Berry, F. B. (2018) · BMC Molecular Biology · doi:10.1186/s12867-018-0117-4 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Maina, J. N. (2012) · Frontiers in Zoology · doi:10.1186/1742-9994-9-16 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Li, K.-L., Lu, T.-M., & Yu, J. (2014) · EvoDevo · doi:10.1186/2041-9139-5-20 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Musolf, A. M., Simpson, C. L., de Andrade, M., Mandal, D. M., Gaba, C., Yang, P., Li, Y., You, M., Kupert, E. Y., Anderson, M. W., et al. (2016) · Human Heredity · doi:10.1159/000479028 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Tumova, S., Doležel, D., & Jindra, M. (2023) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2023.168332 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Shin, J., & Kim, J. (2013) · Gene · doi:10.1016/j.gene.2013.08.024 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Chen, P., Tsai, Y.-W., Cheng, Y.-J., Giangrande, A., & Chien, C. (2019) · PLoS Genetics · doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1007980 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Caporale, A. L., Cinalli, A. R., Rubinstein, M., & Franchini, L. F. (2024) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msae186 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Liu, H., Zhu, B., Wang, T., Dong, Y., Ju, Y., Li, Y., Su, W., Zhang, R., Dong, S., Wang, H., et al. (2025) · BMC Genomics · doi:10.1186/s12864-025-11541-w · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Pereira‐Terra, P., Kholdebarin, R., Higgins, M., Iwasiow, B. M., Correia‐Pinto, J., & Keijzer, R. (2015) · Pediatric Surgery International · doi:10.1007/s00383-015-3703-2 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Discovery of a highly potent NPAS3 heterodimer inhibitor by covalently modifying ARNT
Li, P., Tian, Y., Shang, Q., Tang, C., Zeng, H. L., Li, Y., Cao, L., Xue, S., Bian, J., Luo, C., et al. (2023) · Bioorganic Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.bioorg.2023.106676 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Thiriet, M. (2013) · Biomathematical and biomechanical modeling of the circulatory and ventilatory systems · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9469-0_4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
An evo-devo perspective on terrestrial isopod respiratory organs
Tan, K. L., & Monteiro, A. (2025) · Arthropod Structure & Development · doi:10.1016/j.asd.2025.101470 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Thiriet, M. (2013) · Biomathematical and biomechanical modeling of the circulatory and ventilatory systems · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9469-0_3 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Anatomy of the Ventilatory Apparatus
Thiriet, M. (2013) · Biomathematical and biomechanical modeling of the circulatory and ventilatory systems · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9469-0_2 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Gaspar, M. (2012) · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT)
Anatomy of the Cardiovascular Apparatus
Thiriet, M. (2013) · Biomathematical and biomechanical modeling of the circulatory and ventilatory systems · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9469-0_1
Medical Images and Physiological Signals
Thiriet, M. (2013) · Biomathematical and biomechanical modeling of the circulatory and ventilatory systems · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-9469-0_5
Expression and function of Npas4 during early development.
Klarić, T. (2012) · Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide)
- Authors
- Zhou, S., Degan, S., Potts, E. N., Foster, W. M., & Sunday, M. E.
- Affiliations
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2009-07-14
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 28
- Pages
- 11691-11696
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2710647
- OpenAlex
- W1967454766
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2015-07-06)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (2R01 HL44984, R01HL044984)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES 016347, ES011961, R01ES016347, P30ES011961)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Neonatal Respiratory Health Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Tracheal and airway disorders
- Keywords
- NPAS3, lung development, lung homeostasis, lung branching morphogenesis, alveolarization, FGF signaling, Sonic hedgehog, SPRY2, transcription factors, emphysema, airway hyperresponsiveness, asthma, haploinsufficiency, airway epithelium
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Base Sequence, Immunohistochemistry, Lung, Molecular Sequence Data, Morphogenesis, Oligonucleotides, Transcription Factors, Blotting, Western, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Mice, Knockout, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Gene Expression Profiling, Drosophila Proteins, Mice, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review