Shen X, Cui J, Nagahama Y
Reproductive Genomics Group, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Cytogenet Genome Res. 2012;136(2):123-30. doi: 10.1159/000335898. Epub 2012 Jan 25.
Using the genome sequence of the medaka, Oryzias latipes, we examined the genomic complement of Fox genes in this organism to gain insight into the evolutionary relationships and expression patterns of this gene family. We identified 31 Fox genes by searching for Forkhead domains in the medaka genome and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers designed from protein alignments. All the medaka Fox genes are encoded in 18 subclasses as follows: 5 Fox genes in subclass D; 3 Fox genes in subclass O; 2 Fox genes in each of subclass A, B, E, F, G, I, P, and Q, respectively; 1 Fox gene in each of subclass C, H, J, K, M, N, and R. The gene structures and general features are also discussed. In addition, we examined the expression patterns of some of these genes in different adult tissues and during embryonic development in medaka using quantitative PCR and in situ hybridization. The present study shows that Forkhead transcription factors play an important role during early embryonic development in medaka, and the results will enhance our knowledge in terms of Fox family evolution in different taxa.
利用青鳉（Oryzias latipes）的基因组序列，我们研究了该生物体中Fox基因的基因组组成，以深入了解这个基因家族的进化关系和表达模式。我们通过在青鳉基因组中搜索叉头结构域，并使用根据蛋白质比对设计的引物进行聚合酶链反应（PCR），鉴定出了31个Fox基因。所有青鳉Fox基因被编码在18个亚类中，具体如下：D亚类中有5个Fox基因；O亚类中有3个Fox基因；A、B、E、F、G、I、P和Q亚类中各有2个Fox基因；C、H、J、K、M、N和R亚类中各有1个Fox基因。我们还讨论了这些基因的结构和一般特征。此外，我们使用定量PCR和原位杂交技术，研究了其中一些基因在青鳉不同成体组织和胚胎发育过程中的表达模式。本研究表明，叉头转录因子在青鳉早期胚胎发育过程中起着重要作用，研究结果将增进我们对不同分类群中Fox家族进化的了解。
