PUBLICATION
A role for N-cadherin in mesodermal morphogenesis during gastrulation
- Authors
- Warga, R.M., and Kane, D.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-070912-10
- Date
- 2007
- Source
- Developmental Biology 310(2): 211-225 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Kane, Donald A., Warga, Rachel M.
- Keywords
- Mesoderm, Muscle, Notochord, Cell adhesion, N-Cadherin, Gain-of-function, Gastrulation
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Cadherins/genetics
- Cadherins/physiology*
- Cell Adhesion/physiology*
- Ectoderm/embryology
- Ectoderm/physiology
- Gastrulation/physiology*
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Mesoderm/embryology
- Mesoderm/physiology
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Mutation
- Neural Tube/embryology
- Neural Tube/physiology
- Neurulation/physiology
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/physiology*
- PubMed
- 17826762 Full text @ Dev. Biol.
Citation
Warga, R.M., and Kane, D.A. (2007) A role for N-cadherin in mesodermal morphogenesis during gastrulation. Developmental Biology. 310(2):211-225.
Abstract
Cell adhesion molecules mediate numerous developmental processes necessary for the segregation and organization of tissues. Here we show that the zebrafish biber (bib) mutant encodes a dominant allele at the N-cadherin locus. When knocked down with antisense oligonucleotides, bib mutants phenocopy parachute (pac) null alleles, demonstrating that bib is a gain-of-function mutation. The mutant phenotype disrupts normal cell-cell contacts throughout the mesoderm as well as the ectoderm. During gastrulation stages, cells of the mesodermal germ layer converge slowly; during segmentation stages, the borders between paraxial and axial tissues are irregular and somite borders do not form; later, myotomes are fused. During neurulation, the neural tube is disorganized. Although weaker, all traits present in bib mutants were found in pac mutants. When the distribution of N-cadherin mRNA was analyzed to distinguish mesodermal from neuroectodermal expression, we found that N-cadherin is strongly expressed in the yolk cell and hypoblast in the early gastrula, just preceding the appearance of the bib mesodermal defects. Only later is N-cadherin expressed in the anlage of the CNS, where it is found as a radial gradient in the forming neural plate. Hence, besides a well-established role in neural and somite morphogenesis, N-cadherin is essential for morphogenesis of the mesodermal germ layer during gastrulation.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping