PUBLICATION

her11 is involved in the somitogenesis clock in zebrafish

Authors
Sieger, D., Tautz, D., and Gajewski, M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-040804-11
Date
2004
Source
Development genes and evolution   214(8): 393-406 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Gajewski, Martin, Sieger, Dirk
Keywords
Somitogenesis, bHLH transcription factor, her genes, Morpholino-oligonucleotide-mediated knockdown
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors
  • Biological Clocks/genetics
  • Biological Clocks/physiology*
  • Brain/metabolism
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Primers
  • Gene Duplication
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Morphogenesis/genetics*
  • Phylogeny*
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Somites/physiology*
  • Transcription Factors/genetics*
  • Transcription Factors/metabolism
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
15309634 Full text @ Dev. Genes Evol.
Abstract
Somitogenesis requires an intricate process of pre-patterning, which is driven by an oscillator mechanism consisting of the Delta-Notch pathway and hairy- ( h) and Enhancer of split- [ E( spl)] related genes. With the aim of unravelling the complex mechanism of somite pre-patterning, we have conducted an extensive search for h/E(spl)-related genes in the third release of the Danio rerio genomic sequence. We identified 14 new h/E(spl) genes and analysed them by in situ hybridisation for their potential role in the somitogenesis process. We describe here the functional analysis of one of these genes, which we have named her11. her11 is a paralogue of her1 and, similar to her1, is arranged in a head to head fashion with another her gene, namely the previously described her5. It shares an expression in the midbrain-hindbrain boundary with her5, but is in addition cyclically expressed in patterns overlapping those of her1 and her7 and complementary to those of hey1. Furthermore it is expressed in the anterior half of the most caudally formed somites. We show that Delta-Notch pathway genes and fused somites ( fss) are necessary for the control of her11 expression. However, some aspects of the her11 regulation suggest that at least one additional as yet unknown gene of the Delta-Notch cascade is required to explain its expression. Morpholino-oligonucleotide-mediated knockdown of her11 shows that it is involved in the zebrafish somitogenesis clock via an interaction with her1 and her7. We have also studied the role of hey1 by morpholino injection, but could not find a direct function for this gene, suggesting that it reflects the output of the clock rather than being a core component of the mechanism.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping