With conditional gene targeting to ablate ACF7 expression in the intestine of mice, our findings have uncovered essential roles for ACF7 in intestinal tissue morphogenesis and epithelial cell migration in vivo. In addition, the conditional knockout (cKO) animals are susceptible to experimental colitis, and the expression of ACF7 is strongly correlated with development of ulcerative colitis (UC) in human patients. This evidence concerns the gene MACF1 and ulcerative colitis.