Differential nuclear localization of ER1 protein during embryonic development in Xenopus laevis

The er1 gene is a novel fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-regulated immediate-early gene, first isolated from Xenopus blastulae, that encodes a nuclear protein with potent transcription transactivational activity (Paterno et al., 1997). We report here the expression pattern of the ER1 protein during Xenopus embryonic development. ER1 protein is present in the early embryo but does not begin to appear in the nucleus until the mid-blastula stage. The first cells to show nuclear localization of ER1 are the presumptive mesodermal cells of the stage 8 blastula. ER1 gradually becomes localized to the nucleus of the remaining cells, first in the presumptive ectoderm and finally, in the presumptive endoderm such that by late blastula, all nuclei in the animal hemisphere are stained. By early gastrula, nuclear staining is ubiquitous. During subsequent development, ER1 protein gradually disappears from the nuclei of various tissues. In tailbud stages, ER1 begins to disappear from the nucleus of ectodermally-derived tissues, such as epidermis and brain, while remaining localized in the nucleus of endodermal cells and of mesodermal tissues, such as somites and notochord. In tadpoles, ER1 is no longer detectable in the nucleus of any cells, except for a few endodermal cells. Cytoplasmic staining, on the other hand, is observed in some mesodermal tissues, including somites and muscle cells. Neural tissue is largely unstained except for weak cytoplasmic staining in the eye.