PUBLICATION

Imaging and Quantification of P-Smad1/5 in Zebrafish Blastula and Gastrula Embryos

Authors
Zinski, J., Tuazon, F., Huang, Y., Mullins, M., Umulis, D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-181114-4
Date
2019
Source
Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)   1891: 135-154 (Other)
Registered Authors
Mullins, Mary C.
Keywords
BMP signaling, Gradient, Morphogen, Quantitative imaging, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Blastula/metabolism*
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian
  • Gastrula/metabolism*
  • Molecular Imaging*/methods
  • Signal Transduction
  • Smad1 Protein/genetics
  • Smad1 Protein/metabolism*
  • Smad5 Protein/genetics
  • Smad5 Protein/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
30414130 Full text @ Meth. Mol. Biol.
Abstract
Spatiotemporal patterns of morphogen activity drive differential gene expression with a high degree of precision within a developing embryo and reproducibly between embryos. Understanding the formation and function of a morphogen gradient during development requires quantitative measurement of morphogen activity throughout an individual embryo and also between embryos within a population. Quantification of morphogen gradients in to presents unique challenges in imaging and image processing to minimize error and maximize the quality of the data so it may be used in computational models of development and in statistically testing hypotheses. Here we present methods for the preparation, immunostaining, imaging, and quantification of a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) activity gradient in individual zebrafish embryos as well as methods for acquiring population-level statistics after embryo grouping and alignment. This quantitative approach can be extended to other morphogen systems, and the computational codes can be adapted to other imaging contexts in zebrafish and other organisms.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping