PUBLICATION

Conserved co-regulation and promoter sharing of hoxb3a and hoxb4a in zebrafish

Authors
Hadrys, T., Punnamoottil, B., Pieper, M., Kikuta, H., Pezeron, G., Becker, T.S., Prince, V., Baker, R., and Rinkwitz, S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-060731-4
Date
2006
Source
Developmental Biology   297(1): 26-43 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Baker, Robert, Becker, Thomas S., Kikuta, Hiroshi, Prince, Victoria E., Punnamoottil, Beena, Rinkwitz, Silke
Keywords
Hox, Transcription, cis-regulation, Exon sharing, Conserved non-coding sequences, Genome, Transient transgenics, Enhancer detection, Hindbrain, Micro-RNA, miR-10b
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Cell Differentiation/genetics
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic/genetics
  • Exons
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Homeodomain Proteins/genetics*
  • Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Rhombencephalon/cytology
  • Rhombencephalon/embryology
  • Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
  • Xenopus Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
16860306 Full text @ Dev. Biol.
Abstract
The expression of zebrafish hoxb3a and hoxb4a has been found to be mediated through five transcripts, hoxb3a transcripts I-III and hoxb4a transcripts I-II, driven by four promoters. A 'master' promoter, located about 2 kb downstream of hoxb5a, controls transcription of a pre-mRNA comprising exon sequences of both genes. This unique gene structure is proposed to provide a novel mechanism to ensure overlapping, tissue-specific expression of both genes in the posterior hindbrain and spinal cord. Transgenic approaches were used to analyze the functions of zebrafish hoxb3a/hoxb4a promoters and enhancer sequences containing regions of homology that were previously identified by comparative genomics. Two neural enhancers were shown to establish specific anterior expression borders within the hindbrain and mediate expression in defined neuronal populations derived from hindbrain rhombomeres (r) 5 to 8, suggesting a late role of the genes in neuronal cell lineage specification. Species comparison showed that the zebrafish hoxb3a r5 and r6 enhancer corresponded to a sequence within the mouse HoxA cluster controlling activity of Hoxa3 in r5 and r6, whereas a homologous region within the HoxB cluster activated Hoxb3 expression but limited to r5. We conclude that the similarity of hoxb3a/Hoxa3 regulatory mechanisms reflect the shared descent of both genes from a single ancestral paralog group 3 gene.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping