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Divergent Expression of SPARC, SPARC-L, and SCPP Genes During Jawed Vertebrate Cartilage Mineralization

Authors :
David Muñoz
Mélanie Debiais-Thibaud
Nicolas Leurs
Sylvain Marcellini
Adrian Romero
Source :
Frontiers in Genetics, Frontiers in Genetics, Vol 12 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., 2021.

Abstract

While cartilage is an ancient tissue found both in protostomes and deuterostomes, its mineralization evolved more recently, within the vertebrate lineage. SPARC, SPARC-L, and the SCPP members (Secretory Calcium-binding PhosphoProtein genes which evolved from SPARC-L) are major players of dentine and bone mineralization, but their involvement in the emergence of the vertebrate mineralized cartilage remains unclear. We performed in situ hybridization on mineralizing cartilaginous skeletal elements of the frog Xenopus tropicalis (Xt) and the shark Scyliorhinus canicula (Sc) to examine the expression of SPARC (present in both species), SPARC-L (present in Sc only) and the SCPP members (present in Xt only). We show that while mineralizing cartilage expresses SPARC (but not SPARC-L) in Sc, it expresses the SCPP genes (but not SPARC) in Xt, and propose two possible evolutionary scenarios to explain these opposite expression patterns. In spite of these genetic divergences, our data draw the attention on an overlooked and evolutionarily conserved peripheral cartilage subdomain expressing SPARC or the SCPP genes and exhibiting a high propensity to mineralize.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
16648021
Volume :
12
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Frontiers in Genetics
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....62b075ac3deff7813e0a64a1a417abb3