Distribution pattern of HNF-3beta proteins in developing embryos of two mammalian species, the house shrew and the mouse.

The pattern of expression of HNF-3beta in organizing centers and axial structures during early vertebrate development suggests an important role for this protein in the establishment of the vertebrate body plan. To establish whether the pattern of expression during embryogenesis is species specific, a comparative immunohistochemical study of two mammalian species, the house shrew, insectivore, and the mouse was carried out; it is difficult to obtain accurate morphological differences from the study of remotely related animals. The earliest expression of HNF-3beta appeared in the node and hypoblast (or endoderm) in both species, where the presumptive foregut endoderm showed intense immunoreactivity prior to the formation of the axial mesoderm, suggesting a role different from that in axial formation. The anterior extension of immunopositive axial mesoderm and the median band of the neural plate varied between the two species, and was delayed in the house shrew. HNF-3beta in the anterior end of the foregut disappeared transiently in the house shrew but persisted in the mouse embryo. An asymmetric pattern of distribution in the primitive streak was also observed in the mouse but not in the house shrew. The present immunohistochemical study elucidated that the distribution of HNF-3beta is conserved initially but soon manifests species specificities in development even between mammalian species.