Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 27695-7633, USA.
BMC Genomics. 2011 Feb 28;12:132. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-12-132.
Describing the patterns of gene expression during embryonic development has broadened our understanding of the processes and patterns that define morphogenesis. Yet gene expression patterns have not been described throughout vertebrate embryogenesis. This study presents statistical analyses of gene expression during all 40 developmental stages in the teleost Fundulus heteroclitus using four biological replicates per stage.
Patterns of gene expression for 7,000 genes appear to be important as they recapitulate developmental timing. Among the 45% of genes with significant expression differences between pairs of temporally adjacent stages, significant differences in gene expression vary from as few as five to more than 660. Five adjacent stages have disproportionately more significant changes in gene expression (> 200 genes) relative to other stages: four to eight and eight to sixteen cell stages, onset of circulation, pre and post-hatch, and during complete yolk absorption. The fewest differences among adjacent stages occur during gastrulation. Yet, at stage 16, (pre-mid-gastrulation) the largest number of genes has peak expression. This stage has an over representation of genes in oxidative respiration and protein expression (ribosomes, translational genes and proteases). Unexpectedly, among all ribosomal genes, both strong positive and negative correlations occur. Similar correlated patterns of expression occur among all significant genes.
These data provide statistical support for the temporal dynamics of developmental gene expression during all stages of vertebrate development.
描述胚胎发育过程中的基因表达模式拓宽了我们对定义形态发生的过程和模式的理解。然而，脊椎动物胚胎发生过程中的基因表达模式尚未被描述。本研究使用每个阶段的四个生物学重复，对硬骨鱼 Fundulus heteroclitus 的所有 40 个发育阶段的基因表达进行了统计分析。
7000 个基因的表达模式似乎很重要，因为它们重现了发育时间。在 45%的基因中，有显著差异的基因表达存在于两个时间相邻的阶段之间，基因表达的显著差异从少数 5 个到超过 660 个不等。5 个相邻的阶段在基因表达上有更多的显著变化（>200 个基因），与其他阶段相比：4 到 8 个细胞阶段、血液循环开始、孵化前和孵化后以及完全卵黄吸收阶段。在原肠胚形成过程中，相邻阶段之间的差异最小。然而，在 16 阶段（原肠胚形成前），有最多的基因达到表达高峰。这个阶段在氧化呼吸和蛋白质表达（核糖体、翻译基因和蛋白酶）中有大量的基因表达。出乎意料的是，所有核糖体基因之间都存在强烈的正相关和负相关。所有显著基因之间也存在相似的相关表达模式。
这些数据为脊椎动物发育过程中所有阶段的发育基因表达的时间动态提供了统计支持。
