PUBLICATION
ß-thymosin is required for axonal tract formation in developing zebrafish brain
- Authors
- Roth, L.W., Bormann, P., Bonnet, A., and Reinhard, E.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-990511-20
- Date
- 1999
- Source
- Development (Cambridge, England) 126(7): 1365-1374 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Reinhard, Eva, Roth, Lukas
- Keywords
- ß-thymosin; zebrafish; neuronal growth; muscle differentiation; actin; antisense injections
- MeSH Terms
-
- RNA, Antisense/pharmacology
- Nervous System/embryology
- Nerve Tissue Proteins*
- Brain/embryology
- Axons/metabolism
- Animals
- Cloning, Molecular
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Homeodomain Proteins/genetics
- Base Sequence
- Sequence Alignment
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/genetics
- Thymosin/chemistry
- Thymosin/genetics*
- Muscles/embryology
- RNA/genetics
- LIM-Homeodomain Proteins
- Immunohistochemistry
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- Transcription Factors
- In Situ Hybridization
- PubMed
- 10068630 Full text @ Development
Citation
Roth, L.W., Bormann, P., Bonnet, A., and Reinhard, E. (1999) ß-thymosin is required for axonal tract formation in developing zebrafish brain. Development (Cambridge, England). 126(7):1365-1374.
Abstract
ß-Thymosins are polypeptides that bind monomeric actin and thereby function as actin buffers in many cells. We show that during zebrafish development, ß-thymosin expression is tightly correlated with neuronal growth and differentiation. It is transiently expressed in a subset of axon-extending neurons, essentially primary neurons that extend long axons, glia and muscle. Non-neuronal expression in the brain is restricted to a subset of glia surrounding newly forming axonal tracts. Skeletal muscle cells in somites, jaw and fin express ß-thymosin during differentiation, coinciding with the time of innervation. Injection of ß-thymosin antisense RNA into zebrafish embryos results in brain defects and impairment of the development of ß-thymosin-associated axon tracts. Furthermore, irregularities in somite formation can be seen in a subset of embryos. Compared to wild-type, antisense-injected embryos show slightly weaker and more diffuse engrailed staining at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary and a strong reduction of Isl-1 labeling in Rohon Beard and trigeminal neurons. The decreased expression is not based on a loss of neurons indicating that ß-thymosin may be involved in the maintenance of the expression of molecules necessary for neuronal differentiation. Taken together, our results strongly indicate that ß-thymosin is an important regulator of development.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping