α-parvin controls vascular mural cell recruitment to vessel wall by regulating RhoA/ROCK signalling

Thank you very much for submitting your research manuscript for consideration to The EMBO Journal editorial office. All three referees judge the reported data as potentially interesting, but at the same time emphasize different aspects of the manuscript that needs at least some additional experimentation. Both refs#1 and #2 very much appreciate the cell culture aspect of the study, though requesting further elaboration on loss of alpha parvin function versus beta-parvin upregulation as well as relative importance of Rho versus Rac singaling. It becomes a bit more complicated looking at ref#3's report that also appreciates the cell culture part, but does have significant concerns related to the phenotypic description and understanding of the developmental defects in the heart. S/he still offers alternative approaches to circumvent transgenic cardiac rescue or indeed conditional deletion by assessing vSMC or pericyte phenotypes as early as E10.5. Overall though even this referee would not really oppose publication of the complementary cell culture part if the problems caused by the cardiac phenotype would be appropriately outlined and discussed in the more general context. All in all, and on condition that you carefully consider the points raised to extend and modify the manuscript, we would be willing to re-assess a thoroughly revised version of your work in the near future. I also have to remind you that it is EMBO_J policy to allow a single round of revisions only, which means that the final decision on acceptance or rejection will depend on the next and final version of your manuscript.