College Park-based University of Maryland researchers were the first to discover a protein that plays a significant role in the development of the heart, Science Daily reported Dec. 15.
The study, published in Nature Communications, used CRISPR in zebrafish to remove the gene for cytoglobin. Researchers found it led to defects in the structure and location of organs in developing embryos.
"We found that cytoglobin plays a vital role in the structure and function of tiny hairlike structures called cilia, which determine the asymmetry and proper development of organs," senior author Paola Corti, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the university, said in the report.
This is the first time cytoglobin has been found to be involved in fetal development and potentially linked to birth defects, and the first time cytoglobin has been linked to cilia function, the report said.