Dirksen M L, Jamrich M
Laboratory of Developmental Biology, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Dev Genet. 1995;17(2):107-16. doi: 10.1002/dvg.1020170203.
Intense efforts have been devoted to the identification of genes that are causatively involved in pattern-forming events of invertebrates and vertebrates. Several gene families involved in this process have been identified. Here we focus on the Xenopus fork head domain gene family. One of its members, XFKH1/Pintallavis/XFD1, has been shown previously to be involved in axial formation, and the expression patterns of the other family members discussed below suggest that they too play a major role in the initial steps of patterning and axial organization. In this report, we describe four Xenopus fork head genes (XFKH3, 4, 5, and 6) and analyze the distribution of their transcripts during early development. XFKH3 is expressed in developing somites but not notochord, XFKH4 in forebrain, anterior retina, and neural crest cells, and XFKH5 in a subset of epidermal cells and the neural floor plate. Finally, transcripts of XFKH6 are seen in neural crest-derived cranial ganglia. In addition, we show that at least some of the zebrafish fork head genes might serve a comparable function. Zebrafish zf-FKH1 has a similar expression pattern as Xenopus XFKH1/Pintallavis/XFD1. It is transcribed in the notochord and neural floor plate. The polster or "pillow" also shows very high levels of zf-FKH1 mRNA.
人们付出了巨大努力来鉴定与无脊椎动物和脊椎动物模式形成事件有因果关系的基因。已经鉴定出了几个参与这一过程的基因家族。在这里，我们聚焦于非洲爪蟾叉头结构域基因家族。此前已表明其成员之一XFKH1/Pintallavis/XFD1参与轴向形成，并且下文讨论的其他家族成员的表达模式表明它们在模式形成和轴向组织的初始步骤中也发挥着重要作用。在本报告中，我们描述了四个非洲爪蟾叉头基因（XFKH3、4、5和6），并分析了它们的转录本在早期发育过程中的分布。XFKH3在发育中的体节中表达，但不在脊索中表达；XFKH4在前脑、视网膜前部和神经嵴细胞中表达；XFKH5在一部分表皮细胞和神经底板中表达。最后，在神经嵴衍生的颅神经节中可看到XFKH6的转录本。此外，我们表明至少一些斑马鱼叉头基因可能具有类似的功能。斑马鱼zf-FKH1具有与非洲爪蟾XFKH1/Pintallavis/XFD1相似的表达模式。它在脊索和神经底板中转录。顶体或“枕部”也显示出非常高水平的zf-FKH1 mRNA。
