Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Doctoral Program in Life System Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan.
Genes Cells. 2009 Aug;14(8):941-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2443.2009.01321.x. Epub 2009 Jul 17.
The importance of the large Maf transcription factor family has been investigated in lens development in the chick, Xenopus and mammals. Previously we reported that c-maf-deficient mice exhibit severe defects in lens fibre cells. Here, we report the roles of other large Mafs, MafA/L-Maf and MafB, during mouse lens development. MafA/L-Maf and MafB were expressed in lens epithelial cells and fibre cells at E12.5 but had largely disappeared from the lens at E18.5. The lens of mafA-, mafB-deficient and mafA::mafB double-deficient mice developed normally. In c-maf-deficient mice, the pattern of expression of MafA and MafB differed from their expression in wild-type mice. Moreover, the expression of crystallin genes was unchanged in mafA-, mafB- and mafA::mafB double-deficient lens. These results indicate that c-Maf alone is essential for lens development, and that MafA/L-Maf and MafB are dispensable in mice.
大 maf 转录因子家族的重要性在鸡、非洲爪蟾和哺乳动物的晶状体发育中已经得到了研究。以前我们报道过，c-maf 缺陷小鼠的晶状体纤维细胞存在严重缺陷。在这里，我们报告了其他大 maf 蛋白，MafA/L-Maf 和 MafB，在小鼠晶状体发育中的作用。MafA/L-Maf 和 MafB 在 E12.5 时在晶状体上皮细胞和纤维细胞中表达，但在 E18.5 时已从晶状体中大量消失。mafA-、mafB-缺陷和 mafA::mafB 双缺陷小鼠的晶状体发育正常。在 c-maf 缺陷小鼠中，MafA 和 MafB 的表达模式与野生型小鼠的表达模式不同。此外，mafA-、mafB-和 mafA::mafB 双缺陷晶状体中的晶体蛋白基因表达不变。这些结果表明，c-Maf 单独对于晶状体发育是必需的，而 MafA/L-Maf 和 MafB 在小鼠中是可有可无的。
