Krauss S, Korzh V, Fjose A, Johansen T
Department of Microbiology, University of Tromsø, Norway.
Development. 1992 Sep;116(1):249-59. doi: 10.1242/dev.116.1.249.
The wnt gene family codes for a group of cysteine-rich, secreted proteins, which are differentially expressed in the developing embryo and are possibly involved in cellular communication. Here, we describe the polymerase chain reaction based cloning and embryonic expression patterns of four zebrafish wnt-related sequences; wnt[a], wnt[b], wnt[c] and wnt[d]. One of these genes, wnt[a], is a potential homologue of murine Wnt-3, while the other three genes most likely represent new members of the vertebrate wnt gene family. In zebrafish embryos, transcripts of wnt[a] are confined to the dorsal diencephalon, the dorsal midbrain, the rhombic lips and the dorsal portions of the spinal cord. wnt[b] is expressed in the tail bud and at considerably lower levels in the mesoderm of the head. wnt[c] transcripts are present within the diencephalon and the posterior midbrain whereas wnt[d] shows a surprisingly similar expression pattern to zebrafish wnt-1. By analogy to wnt-1, it is likely that the members of the zebrafish wnt gene family play an important role in cell-to-cell signalling during pattern formation in the neural tube and the tail bud.
wnt基因家族编码一组富含半胱氨酸的分泌蛋白，这些蛋白在发育中的胚胎中差异表达，可能参与细胞通讯。在此，我们描述了基于聚合酶链反应的四种斑马鱼wnt相关序列wnt[a]、wnt[b]、wnt[c]和wnt[d]的克隆及胚胎表达模式。其中一个基因wnt[a]可能是小鼠Wnt-3的同源物，而其他三个基因很可能代表脊椎动物wnt基因家族的新成员。在斑马鱼胚胎中，wnt[a]的转录本局限于背侧间脑、背侧中脑、菱唇和脊髓的背侧部分。wnt[b]在尾芽中表达，在头部中胚层中的表达水平则低得多。wnt[c]的转录本存在于间脑和中脑后部，而wnt[d]的表达模式与斑马鱼wnt-1惊人地相似。与wnt-1类似，斑马鱼wnt基因家族的成员可能在神经管和尾芽模式形成过程中的细胞间信号传导中发挥重要作用。
