PUBLICATION
The role of maternal Activin-like signals in zebrafish embryos
- Authors
- Hagos, E.G., Fan, X., and Dougan, S.T.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-070820-1
- Date
- 2007
- Source
- Developmental Biology 309(2): 245-258 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Dougan, Scott T., Fan, Xiang, Hagos, Engda
- Keywords
- Zebrafish, squint, Nodal-related proteins, Maternal, TGF-β, SB-505124, Mesoderm, Endoderm
- MeSH Terms
-
- Activin Receptors/genetics
- Activin Receptors/metabolism
- Activin Receptors, Type I
- Activins/genetics
- Activins/metabolism*
- Animals
- Benzodioxoles/pharmacology
- Body Patterning
- Endoderm/embryology
- Endoderm/metabolism
- Imidazoles/pharmacology
- Mesoderm/embryology
- Mesoderm/metabolism
- Mutation
- Nodal Signaling Ligands
- Pyridines/pharmacology
- Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta/antagonists & inhibitors
- Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta/metabolism
- Signal Transduction
- Transforming Growth Factor beta/genetics
- Transforming Growth Factor beta/metabolism
- Transforming Growth Factor beta/physiology
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/metabolism*
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- PubMed
- 17692308 Full text @ Dev. Biol.
Citation
Hagos, E.G., Fan, X., and Dougan, S.T. (2007) The role of maternal Activin-like signals in zebrafish embryos. Developmental Biology. 309(2):245-258.
Abstract
Maternal Activin-like proteins, a subgroup of the TGF-beta superfamily, play a key role in establishing the body axes in many vertebrates, but their role in teleosts is unclear. At least two maternal Activin-like proteins are expressed in zebrafish, including the Vg1 orthologue, zDVR-1, and the nodal-related gene, Squint. Our analysis of embryos lacking both maternal and zygotic squint function revealed that maternal squint is required in some genetic backgrounds for the formation of dorsal and anterior tissues. Conditional inactivation of the ALK4, 5 and 7 receptors by SB-505124 treatment during the cleavage stages ruled out a role for maternal Squint, zDVR-1, or other Activin-like ligands before the mid-blastula transition, when the dorsal axis is established. Furthermore, we show that maternal Squint and zDVR-1 are not required during the cleavage stages to induce zygotic nodal-related gene expression. nodal-related gene expression decreases when receptor inhibition continues past the mid-blastula transition, resulting in a progressive loss of mesoderm and endoderm. We conclude that maternally expressed Activin-like signals do not act before the mid-blastula transition in zebrafish, but do have a variably penetrant role in the later stages of axis formation. This contrasts with the early role for these signals during Xenopus development.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping