Fricke Cornelia, Chien Chi-Bin
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah 84132-3401, USA.
Dev Dyn. 2005 Nov;234(3):732-9. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.20492.
Members of the DCC family play key roles in axon guidance in vertebrates as well as invertebrates. In zebrafish, only a short partial sequence of the dcc gene has been reported to date. Here, we report the cloning of full-length zebrafish dcc. Zebrafish DCC shares the typical structure of the DCC subgroup of the immunoglobulin superfamily, consisting of four immunoglobulin and six fibronectin-type III repeats in the extracellular domain, a single transmembrane domain, and an intracellular domain with three conserved motifs. As a first step toward studying the function of dcc, we analyzed its sequence and characterized its expression pattern during embryonic and larval development. dcc is expressed highly in brain and spinal cord, but distinct staining was also observed in developing pectoral fins, pancreas, intestine, and heart. Thus, dcc may play roles not only in axon guidance, but in morphogenesis and functioning of these organs as well.
DCC家族成员在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的轴突导向中发挥关键作用。在斑马鱼中，迄今为止仅报道了dcc基因的一段短的部分序列。在此，我们报告了全长斑马鱼dcc的克隆。斑马鱼DCC具有免疫球蛋白超家族DCC亚组的典型结构，其胞外结构域由四个免疫球蛋白和六个纤连蛋白III型重复序列组成，一个单一的跨膜结构域，以及一个具有三个保守基序的胞内结构域。作为研究dcc功能的第一步，我们分析了其序列并表征了其在胚胎和幼体发育过程中的表达模式。dcc在脑和脊髓中高度表达，但在发育中的胸鳍、胰腺、肠道和心脏中也观察到明显的染色。因此，dcc可能不仅在轴突导向中发挥作用，还在这些器官的形态发生和功能中发挥作用。
