QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Summary Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Imai, K. S. Articles by Satou, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Imai, K. S. Articles by Satou, Y. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Early embryonic expression of FGF4/6/9 gene and its role in the induction of mesenchyme and notochord in Ciona savignyi embryos

Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

View larger version (60K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Alignment of amino acid sequences of Cs-FGF4/6/9, human FGF4, human FGF6, human FGF9 and human FGF20. Identical residues are enclosed by black boxes, and similar residues by grey boxes. Identities between Cs-FGF4/6/9 and FGF4, FGF6, FGF9 and FGF20 are shown at the ends of the respective sequences. The putative signal peptide sequence of Cs-FGF4/6/9 is underlined.

View larger version (150K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Expression of Cs-FGF4/6/9 in early Ciona savignyi embryos, revealed by whole-mount in situ hybridization. (A) A fertilized egg. (B) An 8-cell stage embryo, lateral view. (C) A 16-cell stage embryo, (D) 32-cell stage embryo, (E) 64-cell stage embryo, (F) 110-cell stage embryo and (G) late gastrula-stage embryo, vegetal pole view; anterior is up and posterior is down. Blastomeres containing Cs-FGF4/6/9 transcripts are named in C-F according to Conklin (Conklin, 1905). In ascidians, in situ signals for zygotic gene expression are first detected in the nuclei of embryonic cells. (H) A neurula, dorsal view; (I) mid tailbud embryo, lateral view. Arrows indicate Cs-FGF4/6/9 expression in cells of the nervous system. Scale bar, 50 µm.

View larger version (73K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. (A) Upregulation of Cs-FGF4/6/9 expression in ß-catenin-overexpressing embryos and (B) downregulation of Cs-FGF4/6/9 expression in cadherin-overexpressing embryos at the 32-cell stage. Vegetal pole view.

View larger version (95K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Effects of suppression of Cs-FGF4/6/9 function with a specific antisense morpholino oligo on the expression of (A,A') epidermis-specific gene Cs-Epi1, (B,B') endoderm-specific histochemical activity of alkaline phosphatase, (C,C',D,D') muscle-specific actin gene Cs-MA1, (E,E',F,F') notochord-specific Cs-Bra, (G,G',H,H') notochord-specific gene Cs-fibrn, (I,I',I'') mesenchyme-specific gene Cs-mech1, and nervous system-specific genes (J,J') Cs-otx and (K,K') Cs-ETR. Arrows in D' indicate extra cells with Cs-MA1 expression. The black arrow in E' indicates no Cs-Bra expression in the left-side notochord cells while the white arrow points to Cs-Bra expression in the right-side notochord cells. This embryo developed from the 2-cell stage in which the left-side blastomere was injected with morpholino oligo. Two embryos in the insert were developed from eggs injected with morpholino oligo, and they do not show the expression of Cs-Bra. (I'') Recovery of expression of Cs-fibrn in tailbud embryos developed from eggs injected with Cs-FGF4/6/9 morpholino oligo together with in-vitro-synthesized Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA.

View larger version (87K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Functional cascade of Cs-FGF4/6/9. (A,A') Expression of Cs-fibrn in (A) control uninjected tailbud-embryos and (A') experimental tailbud embryos developed from eggs injected with in vitro-synthesized Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA. (B,B') Expression of Cs-mech1 in (B) control embryos and (B') experimental embryos developed from eggs injected with in vitro-synthesized Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA. (C,C') Expression of Cs-fibrn in experimental tailbud embryos developed from eggs injected with (C) ß-catenin morpholino oligo or (C') ß-catenin morpholino oligo together with in vitro-synthesized Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA. (D,D') Expression of Cs-mech1 in experimental tailbud embryos developed from eggs injected with (D) ß-catenin morpholino oligo or (D') ß-catenin morpholino oligo together with in vitro-synthesized Cs-FGF4/6/9 mRNA. (E) Cs-FoxD expression at the 32-cell stage in embryos developed from eggs injected with Cs-FGF4/6/9 morpholino oligo. (F) Cs-FGF4/6/9 expression at the 32-cell stage in embryos developed from eggs injected with Cs-FoxD morpholino oligo.

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us

Digg

Reddit

Technorati

Twitter