Talin1 is required for cardiac Z-disk stabilization and endothelial integrity in zebrafish

Talin (tln) binds and activates integrins to couple extracellular matrix-bound integrins to the cytoskeleton; however, its role in heart development is not well characterized. We identified the defective gene and the resulting cardiovascular phenotypes in zebrafish tln1(fl02k) mutants. The ethylnitrosourea-induced fl02k mutant showed heart failure, brain hemorrhage, and diminished cardiac and vessel lumens at 52 h post fertilization. Positional cloning revealed a nonsense mutation of tln1 in this mutant. tln1, but neither tln2 nor -2a, was dominantly expressed in the heart and vessels. Unlike tln1 and -2 in the mouse heart, the unique tln1 expression in the heart enabled us, for the first time, to determine the critical roles of Tln1 in the maintenance of cardiac sarcomeric Z-disks and endothelial/endocardial cell integrity, partly through regulating F-actin networks in zebrafish. The similar expression profiles of tln1 and integrin β1b (itgb1b) and synergistic function of the 2 genes revealed that itgb1b is a potential partner for tln1 in the stabilization of cardiac Z-disks and vessel lumens. Taken together, the results of this work suggest that Tln1-mediated Itgβ1b plays a crucial role in maintaining cardiac sarcomeric Z-disks and endothelial/endocardial cell integrity in zebrafish and may also help to gain molecular insights into congenital heart diseases.