Ma Q, Kintner C, Anderson D J
Division of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125, USA.
Cell. 1996 Oct 4;87(1):43-52. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81321-5.
Several bHLH proteins are involved in vertebrate neurogenesis, but those controlling early stages of neuronal determination have not yet been identified. Here we describe a novel, NeuroD-related bHLH protein, NEUROGENIN, whose expression precedes that of NeuroD in both mouse and Xenopus. Expression of Xenopus NEUROGENIN-related-1 (X-NGNR-1) defines the three prospective territories of primary neurogenesis. Overexpression of X-NGNR-1 (or NEUROGENIN) induces ectopic neurogenesis and ectopic expression of XNeuroD mRNA. Endogenous X-ngnr-1 expression becomes restricted to subsets of cells by lateral inhibition, mediated by X-Delta-1 and X-Notch. The properties of X-NGNR-1 are thus analogous to those of the Drosophila proneural genes, suggesting that it functions as a vertebrate neuronal determination factor.
几种bHLH蛋白参与脊椎动物的神经发生过程，但那些控制神经元决定早期阶段的蛋白尚未被鉴定出来。在此，我们描述了一种新的、与NeuroD相关的bHLH蛋白——神经生成素，其在小鼠和非洲爪蟾中的表达均先于NeuroD。非洲爪蟾神经生成素相关蛋白1（X-NGNR-1）的表达界定了初级神经发生的三个预期区域。X-NGNR-1（或神经生成素）的过表达诱导异位神经发生以及XNeuroD mRNA的异位表达。内源性X-ngnr-1的表达通过由X-Delta-1和X-Notch介导的侧向抑制作用而局限于细胞亚群。因此，X-NGNR-1的特性类似于果蝇的原神经基因，这表明它作为一种脊椎动物神经元决定因子发挥作用。
