PUBLICATION
Probing Pineal-specific Gene Expression with Transgenic Zebrafish
- Authors
- Kojima, D., Dowling, J.E., and Fukada, Y.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-080512-7
- Date
- 2008
- Source
- Photochemistry and photobiology 84(4): 1011-1015 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Dowling, John E., Fukada, Yoshitaka, Kojima, Daisuke
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Animals, Genetically Modified
- Gene Expression Regulation*
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/physiology
- Light
- Photoreceptor Cells/physiology
- Photoreceptor Cells/radiation effects
- Pineal Gland/physiology*
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- PubMed
- 18466202 Full text @ Photochem. Photobiol.
Citation
Kojima, D., Dowling, J.E., and Fukada, Y. (2008) Probing Pineal-specific Gene Expression with Transgenic Zebrafish. Photochemistry and photobiology. 84(4):1011-1015.
Abstract
The pineal gland of zebrafish (Danio rerio) contains light-sensitive photoreceptor cells and plays an important role in the neuroendocrine system. The zebrafish exorhodopsin gene encodes a pineal-specific photoreceptive protein, whose promoter region harbors a cis-acting element, pineal expression-promoting element (PIPE), directing pineal-specific gene expression. For in vivo genetic studies on PIPE-binding proteins and their regulatory mechanisms, we generated a transgenic zebrafish line, Tg(P(20)-rh/P:gfp), that expresses green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the zebrafish rhodopsin promoter fused with 20 PIPE repeats. In Tg(P(20)-rh/P:gfp) fish, PIPE-dependent gene expression is visualized by GFP fluorescence in the pineal gland along with PIPE-independent GFP signals in the retinal rod photoreceptors. The transgenic fish exhibit detectable and reproducible GFP fluorescence in the larval pineal gland by 5 days postfertilization. Antisense morpholino-mediated knock-down of a pineal transcription factor gene, otx5, suppresses pineal GFP expression in the transgenic line. In a pilot screen of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-treated fish of the GFP transgenic line, we isolated potential dominant mutations that cause attenuation of pineal GFP fluorescence with a marginal effect on the retinal GFP signal. The results suggest that the Tg(P(20)-rh/P:gfp) line will be useful for detecting deficits in PIPE-dependent gene expression in the pineal gland.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping