... controls of GI development, the interplay between these factors is not fully understood. We report herein the expression pattern of Sox9 during GI development, and provide evidence that it functions,in part, to define the pyloric sphincter epithelium. SOX9 is expressed in the endoderm of the GI tract...

... and lack of differentiation of smooth muscle in the gizzard mesoderm. Further, ectopic BMP receptors cause an upregulation of Nkx2 . 5 , the pyloric sphincter marker, similar to that seen with ectopic BMP4. This upregulation of Nkx2 . 5 is a cell-autonomous event within the mesoderm of the gizzard. We also...