Carl T F, Dufton C, Hanken J, Klymkowsky M W
Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Dev Biol. 1999 Sep 1;213(1):101-15. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1999.9320.
Based primarily on studies in the chick, it has been assumed that the zinc finger transcription factor Slug is required for neural crest migration. In the mouse, however, Slug is not expressed in the premigratory neural crest, which forms normally in Slug -/- animals. To study the role of Slug in Xenopus laevis, we used the injection of XSlug antisense RNA and tissue transplantation. Injection of Slug antisense RNA did not suppress the early expression of the related gene XSnail, but led to reduced expression of both XSlug and XSnail in later stage embryos, whereas the expression of another neural crest marker, XTwist, was not affected. Down-regulation of XSlug and XSnail was associated with the inhibition of neural crest cell migration and the reduction or loss of many neural crest derivatives. In particular, the formation of rostral cartilages was often highly aberrant, whereas the posterior cartilages were less frequently affected. The effects of Slug antisense RNA on neural crest migration and cartilage formation were rescued by the injection of either XSlug or XSnail mRNA. These studies indicate that XSlug is required for neural crest migration, that XSlug and XSnail may be functionally redundant, and that both genes are required to maintain each other's expression in the neural crest development of xenopus laevis.
主要基于对鸡的研究，人们认为锌指转录因子Slug是神经嵴迁移所必需的。然而，在小鼠中，Slug在迁移前的神经嵴中并不表达，而在Slug基因敲除动物中，迁移前的神经嵴正常形成。为了研究Slug在非洲爪蟾中的作用，我们采用了注射XSlug反义RNA和组织移植的方法。注射Slug反义RNA并没有抑制相关基因XSnail的早期表达，但导致后期胚胎中XSlug和XSnail的表达减少，而另一个神经嵴标记物XTwist的表达未受影响。XSlug和XSnail的下调与神经嵴细胞迁移的抑制以及许多神经嵴衍生物的减少或缺失有关。特别是，头部软骨的形成常常高度异常，而后部软骨受影响的频率较低。注射XSlug或XSnail mRNA可挽救Slug反义RNA对神经嵴迁移和软骨形成的影响。这些研究表明，XSlug是神经嵴迁移所必需的，XSlug和XSnail可能在功能上冗余，并且在非洲爪蟾的神经嵴发育过程中，这两个基因都需要维持彼此的表达。
