1. Molecular characterization of wdr68 gene in embryonic development of Xenopus laevis.
- Author
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Bonano M, Martín E, Moreno Ruiz Holgado MM, Silenzi Usandivaras GM, Ruiz De Bigliardo G, and Aybar MJ
- Subjects
- Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Cloning, Molecular, Embryo, Nonmammalian cytology, Embryonic Development, Female, Sequence Homology, Xenopus Proteins genetics, Xenopus laevis embryology, Xenopus laevis genetics, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing metabolism, Embryo, Nonmammalian metabolism, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Xenopus Proteins metabolism, Xenopus laevis metabolism
- Abstract
WDR68, also known as DCAF7, is a WD40 repeated domain protein highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms in both plants and animals. This protein participates in numerous cellular processes and exerts its function through interaction with other proteins. In the present work, we isolated, sequenced and characterized cDNA corresponding to the wdr68 gene in embryos of the amphibian Xenopus laevis. Syntenic analysis revealed high conservation of the genomic region containing the WDR68 locus in amniotes. Nevertheless, in fishes and amphibians, we observed that the tandem genes surrounding wdr68 undergoes certain rearrangements with respect to the organization found in amniotes. We also defined the temporal and spatial expression pattern of the wdr68 gene in the development of Xenopus laevis through whole mount in situ hybridization and RT-PCR techniques. We observed that wdr68 is ubiquitously expressed during early embryonic development but, during the neurula stage, it undergoes a strong expression in the neural tube and in the migratory cephalic streams of the neural crest. At the tailbud stages, it is strongly expressed in the cephalic region, particularly in otic and optic vesicles, in addition to branchial arches. In contrast, wdr68 transcripts are localized in the somitic mesoderm in the trunk. The expression area that includes the migratory neural crest of the head and the branchial arches suggest that this gene would be involved in jaws formation, probably through a hierarchical relationship with the component genes of the endothelin-1/endothelin receptor type A cell signaling pathway., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2018
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