Herpin Amaury, Lelong Christophe, Becker Tom, Favrel Pascal, Cunningham Charles
Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, High Technology Centre, Bergen, Norway.
Gene Expr Patterns. 2007 Jun;7(6):700-8. doi: 10.1016/j.modgep.2007.03.001. Epub 2007 Mar 6.
The genes governing mesoderm specification have been extensively studied in vertebrates, arthropods and nematodes. The latter two phyla belong to the Ecdysozoan clade but little is understood of the role that these genes might play in the development of the other major protostomal clade, the Lophotrochozoa. As part of a wider project to analyze the functions associated with transforming growth factor beta superfamily members in Lophotrochozoa, we have cloned a gene encoding a tolloid homologue from the bivalve mollusc Crassostrea gigas. Tolloid is a key developmental protein that regulates the activity of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). We have determined the intron-exon structure of the gene encoding C. gigas tolloid and have compared it with those of homologous genes from both protostomes and deuterostomes. In order to analyze the functionality of oyster tolloid the zebrafish embryo has been employed as a reporter organism and we show that over-expression of this protein results in the ventralization of zebrafish embryos at 24h post fertilization. The expression of the C. gigas tolloid gene during embryonic and larval development as well as in adult tissues is also explored.
在脊椎动物、节肢动物和线虫中，调控中胚层特化的基因已得到广泛研究。后两个门属于蜕皮动物进化枝，但对于这些基因在另一个主要的原口动物进化枝——冠轮动物中的发育过程中可能发挥的作用，人们了解甚少。作为分析冠轮动物中与转化生长因子β超家族成员相关功能的更广泛项目的一部分，我们从双壳贝类软体动物太平洋牡蛎中克隆了一个编码类Tolloid蛋白的基因。Tolloid是一种关键的发育蛋白，可调节骨形态发生蛋白（BMP）的活性。我们确定了编码太平洋牡蛎Tolloid基因的内含子-外显子结构，并将其与来自原口动物和后口动物的同源基因进行了比较。为了分析牡蛎Tolloid的功能，斑马鱼胚胎被用作报告生物，我们发现该蛋白的过度表达会导致受精后24小时的斑马鱼胚胎腹侧化。我们还探究了太平洋牡蛎Tolloid基因在胚胎和幼虫发育以及成体组织中的表达情况。
