FGF signaling is required for anterior but not posterior specification of the murine liver bud

Background The definitive endoderm arises as a naive epithelial sheet that produces the entire gut tube and associated organs including the liver, pancreas and lungs. Murine explant studies demonstrate that Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) signaling from adjacent tissues is required to induce hepatic gene expression from isolated foregut endoderm. The requirement of FGF signaling during liver development is examined via small molecule inhibition during whole embryo culture.