PUBLICATION
Neurogenin1 is a determinant of zebrafish basal forebrain dopaminergic neurons and is regulated by the conserved zinc finger protein Tof/Fezl
- Authors
- Jeong, J.Y., Einhorn, Z., Mercurio, S., Lee, S., Lau, B., Mione, M., Wilson, S.W., and Guo, S.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-060323-29
- Date
- 2006
- Source
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(13): 5143-5148 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Guo, Su, Mercurio, Sara, Mione, Marina, Wilson, Steve
- Keywords
- neurogenin 1, pluripotent neural stem cell, neurotransmitter phenotype, commitment and differentiation
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors/genetics
- Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors/metabolism*
- Carrier Proteins/chemistry
- Carrier Proteins/genetics
- Carrier Proteins/metabolism*
- Cell Shape
- Conserved Sequence
- Dopamine/biosynthesis
- Dopamine/metabolism*
- Ectoderm/cytology
- Ectoderm/metabolism
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Mutation/genetics
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics
- Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism*
- Neurons/cytology
- Neurons/metabolism*
- Prosencephalon/cytology*
- Prosencephalon/embryology
- Prosencephalon/metabolism*
- Stem Cells/metabolism
- Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase/metabolism
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish/metabolism*
- Zebrafish Proteins/chemistry
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- Zinc Fingers
- PubMed
- 16549779 Full text @ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Citation
Jeong, J.Y., Einhorn, Z., Mercurio, S., Lee, S., Lau, B., Mione, M., Wilson, S.W., and Guo, S. (2006) Neurogenin1 is a determinant of zebrafish basal forebrain dopaminergic neurons and is regulated by the conserved zinc finger protein Tof/Fezl. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103(13):5143-5148.
Abstract
The development of vertebrate basal forebrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons requires the conserved zinc finger protein Too Few (Tof/Fezl) in zebrafish. However, how Tof/Fezl regulates the commitment and differentiation of these DA neurons is not known. Proneural genes encoding basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors regulate the development of multiple neuronal lineages, but their involvement in vertebrate DA neuron determination is unclear. Here we show that neurogenin 1 (ngn1), a vertebrate proneural gene related to the Drosophila atonal, is expressed in and required for specification of DA progenitor cells, and when overexpressed leads to supernumerary DA neurons in the forebrain of zebrafish. Overexpression of ngn1 is also sufficient to induce tyrosine hydroxylase expression in addition to the pan-neuronal marker Hu in nonneural ectoderm. We further show that Tof/Fezl is required to establish basal forebrain ngn1-expressing DA progenitor domains. These findings identify Ngn1 as a determinant of brain DA neurons and provide insights into how Tof/Fezl regulates the development of these clinically important neuronal types.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping