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Zebrafish Whole Mount High-Resolution Double Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization
Published on: March 25, 2009
Expression pattern of the single-minded gene in zebrafish embryos
Hui-Ju Wen1, Ying Wang, Sei-Hui Chen
1Institute of Marine Biotechnology, National Taiwan Ocean University, No. 2, Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 202-24, Taiwan.
Mechanisms of Development
|December 18, 2001
Summary
Researchers identified a zebrafish homolog of the Drosophila single-minded (sim) gene. This gene is crucial for embryonic development, showing specific expression patterns in the brain, pharyngeal arches, and various organs in adult zebrafish.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The single-minded (sim) gene in Drosophila melanogaster plays a vital role in neurodevelopment.
- Understanding conserved developmental genes in vertebrates is essential for comparative biology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To isolate and characterize the zebrafish homolog of the Drosophila sim gene.
- To investigate the expression patterns of zebrafish sim during embryonic and larval development.
Main Methods:
- Zebrafish cDNA library screening to isolate sim homolog.
- RNA in situ hybridization to determine spatial and temporal expression patterns.
Main Results:
- Isolated a 4380-bp zebrafish sim cDNA encoding a 585-amino acid polypeptide with conserved bHLH and PAS domains.
- sim mRNA expression observed early in embryogenesis (3 hpf) throughout the epiblast.
- Specific expression in hindbrain primordium and mid-diencephalic boundary (MDB) during segmentation.
- Expression in MDB, caudal diencephalon, and pharyngeal arches during pharyngula stage.
- Larval and adult expression detected in esophagus, liver, pancreas, intestine, brain, eyes, gill, and heart.
Conclusions:
- Zebrafish sim is a conserved homolog of Drosophila sim.
- Zebrafish sim exhibits dynamic expression patterns during development, particularly in neural tissues and pharyngeal arches.
- The expression profile suggests a role for zebrafish sim in the development of the central nervous system and other organ systems.
