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Related Experiment Videos

An ascidian engrailed gene.

Di Jiang1, William C Smith

  • 1Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106, USA.

Development Genes and Evolution
|November 20, 2002
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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The ascidian engrailed gene is expressed in cells homologous to the vertebrate mid-brain/hind-brain boundary (MHB). This suggests an ancient evolutionary origin for the MHB structure predating chordate divergence.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Engrailed genes are crucial for segment polarity and mid-brain/hind-brain boundary (MHB) formation in vertebrates.
  • The evolutionary history of the MHB across different animal phyla remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role and expression pattern of an ascidian engrailed gene during early development.
  • To explore the potential evolutionary conservation of the MHB structure in invertebrate chordates.

Main Methods:

  • Isolation and analysis of an ascidian engrailed gene.
  • Examination of gene expression patterns during key developmental stages (neurula and tail-bud).
  • Comparison of expression domains with known vertebrate developmental structures.

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Main Results:

  • Ascidian engrailed gene expression initiates at the neurula stage, localized to two neuroectodermal cells.
  • At the tail-bud stage, these cells are situated in the neural tube's "neck" region, a proposed MHB equivalent.
  • Co-expression of engrailed and PAX2/5/8 genes in these specific cells was observed.

Conclusions:

  • The expression pattern of the ascidian engrailed gene suggests a functional and positional homology to the vertebrate MHB.
  • A structure equivalent to the MHB may have existed prior to the divergence of the major chordate sub-phyla.
  • This finding provides insights into the deep evolutionary origins of brain patterning mechanisms.