Fig. 4. (A-E) Flat preparations of embryos at the one-somite (A) and two- to
three-somite (B-E) stages, which had been injected with morpholino
oligonucleotides against her3. The embryos were hybridised with the
probes indicated. Note the ectopic expression of neurog1, deltaD and
elavl3 transcripts in the region between 2SN and 2MN, and 4SN and 4MN
(see Fig. 1D'). Double in
situ hybridisation with egr2b (B) shows that ectopic expression is
restricted to rhombomeres 2 and 4. (r3, r5: rhombomeres 3 and 5). (F) The
density of her3 transcripts following injection of her3
morpholinos is higher than in the wild type (compare with
Fig. 1F). (D) Wild-type embryo
injected with her3 morpholinos, showing that the density of
her3 transcripts is higher than in the controls (compare with
Fig. 1E), suggesting that Her3
regulates its own transcription. (H) Her3 protein can bind to N boxes in the
her3 promoter. Lanes 1-3 contain increasing amounts of Her3 protein
(1, 5 and 10 µg, respectively) and 8000 cpm of an oligonucleotide derived
from the her3 promoter that includes the N1 box (see Materials and
methods). A clear shift in the electrophoretic mobility of the oligonucleotide
can be detected. The presence of several bands suggests binding by Her3
oligomers. Lanes 4-6 contain 3 µg of Her3 protein, 8000 cpm of the labelled
N1 oligonucleotide, and increasing amounts of unlabelled oligonucleotide (0.4,
5 and 6 pM, respectively). Binding to the labelled probe is reduced because
the unlabelled oligonucleotides compete for Her3. Lanes 7-9 show the same
experiment using an oligonucleotide that contains the N2 box (refer to
Materials and methods). The shifted band is weaker. Lanes 10-12 show that,
also in this case, the non-radioactive oligonucleotide competes for Her3.
Lanes 7-9 and 10-12 contain the same amounts of protein and radioactive and
non-radioactive DNA as lanes 1-3 and 4-6, respectively. Lanes 13-14 and 15-16
show the effects of mutating either the N1 or the N2 box on band shifting.
Lanes contain 1 and 5 µg of Her3 protein and 8000 cpm of the labelled
oligonucleotides. As a control, lanes 17-20 contain 8000 cpm of the wild-type
(17-18) and mutated (19-20) oligonucleotides, but no Her3 protein.