PUBLICATION

Characterization and Expression of the Zebrafish qki Paralogs

Authors
Radomska, K.J., Sager, J., Farnsworth, B., Tellgren-Roth, Å., Tuveri, G., Peuckert, C., Kettunen, P., Jazin, E., Emilsson, L.S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-160105-1
Date
2016
Source
PLoS One   11: e0146155 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Kettunen, Petronella
Keywords
Zebrafish, Sequence alignment, Hindbrain, Somites, In situ hybridization, Mesoderm, Spinal cord, Nervous system
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Biological Evolution
  • Chordata/anatomy & histology
  • Chordata/genetics
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Extremities/embryology
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Humans
  • In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins/biosynthesis
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics
  • Nervous System/embryology
  • Nervous System/metabolism
  • Neural Tube/metabolism
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA-Binding Proteins/biosynthesis
  • RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology
  • Species Specificity
  • Synteny
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
  • Zebrafish Proteins/biosynthesis
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
PubMed
26727370 Full text @ PLoS One
Abstract
Quaking (QKI) is an RNA-binding protein involved in post-transcriptional mRNA processing. This gene is found to be associated with several human neurological disorders. Early expression of QKI proteins in the developing mouse neuroepithelium, together with neural tube defects in Qk mouse mutants, suggest the functional requirement of Qk for the establishment of the nervous system. As a knockout of Qk is embryonic lethal in mice, other model systems like the zebrafish could serve as a tool to study the developmental functions of qki. In the present study we sought to characterize the evolutionary relationship and spatiotemporal expression of qkia, qki2, and qkib; zebrafish homologs of human QKI. We found that qkia is an ancestral paralog of the single tetrapod Qk gene that was likely lost during the fin-to-limb transition. Conversely, qkib and qki2 are orthologs, emerging at the root of the vertebrate and teleost lineage, respectively. Both qki2 and qkib, but not qkia, were expressed in the progenitor domains of the central nervous system, similar to expression of the single gene in mice. Despite having partially overlapping expression domains, each gene has a unique expression pattern, suggesting that these genes have undergone subfunctionalization following duplication. Therefore, we suggest the zebrafish could be used to study the separate functions of qki genes during embryonic development.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping