PUBLICATION

Characterization of amphioxus AmphiWnt8: insights into the evolution of patterning of the embryonic dorsoventral axis

Authors
Schubert, M., Holland, L.Z., Panopoulou, G.D., Lehrach, H., and Holland, N.D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-041006-13
Date
2000
Source
Evolution & development   2(2): 85-92 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Lehrach, Hans, Schubert, Michael
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Blotting, Southern
  • Body Patterning*
  • Chordata, Nonvertebrate/embryology
  • Chordata, Nonvertebrate/genetics*
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Female
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Proteins/chemistry
  • Proteins/genetics*
  • Wnt Proteins
  • Zebrafish Proteins
PubMed
11258394 Full text @ Evol. Dev.
Abstract
The full-length sequence and developmental expression of an amphioxus Wnt gene (AmphiWnt8) are described. In amphioxus embryos, the expression patterns of AmphiWnt8 suggest patterning roles in the forebrain, in the hindgut, and in the paraxial mesoderm that gives rise to the muscular somites. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that a single Wnt8 subfamily gene in an ancestral chordate duplicated early in vertebrate evolution into a Wnt8 clade and a Wnt8b clade. Coincident with this gene duplication, the functions of the ancestral AmphiWnt8-like gene appear to have been divided between vertebrate Wnt8b (exclusively neurogenic, especially in the forebrain) and vertebrate Wnt8 (miscellaneous, especially in early somitogenesis). Amphioxus AmphiWnt8 and its vertebrate Wnt8 homologs probably play comparable roles in the early dorsoventral patterning of the embryonic body axis.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping