Chicken homeobox gene Prox 1 related to Drosophila prospero is expressed in the developing lens and retina
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S I Tomarev1, O Sundin, S Banerjee-Basu
1Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2730, USA. tomarev@fcrfv1.nciferf.gov
Insights
Prox 1, a gene crucial for eye development, shows conserved expression patterns in chickens and flies. This vertebrate homolog of Drosophila prospero is essential for lens and retina formation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Prox 1 is the vertebrate homolog of Drosophila prospero, a gene vital for fly eye development.
- Understanding Prox 1's role in vertebrates can illuminate conserved mechanisms of eye formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the role and expression pattern of Prox 1 in vertebrate eye development.
- To investigate the homology between chicken Prox 1 and its Drosophila counterpart.
Main Methods:
- Isolation and sequencing of chicken Prox 1 cDNAs from embryonic lenses.
- Analysis of protein homology between chicken, mouse, and Drosophila prospero.
- In situ hybridization to determine Prox 1 gene expression patterns during embryonic development.
Main Results:
- Chicken Prox 1 shares significant homology with Drosophila prospero, particularly in the homeodomain and C-terminal regions.
- Prox 1 is actively expressed in the developing chicken lens and retina, with specific patterns observed in different cell layers.
- Alternative splicing of the Prox 1 gene generates multiple mRNA forms detected in lens epithelial and fiber cells.
Conclusions:
- The conserved expression pattern of Prox 1/prospero suggests its essential role in eye development across diverse species.
- Prox 1 is likely a key regulator in vertebrate eye morphogenesis, similar to Pax-6.
- Further research into Prox 1 function can provide insights into congenital eye disorders.
Abstract:
Prox 1 is the vertebrate homolog of Drosophila prospero, a gene known to be expressed in the lens-secreting cone cells of fly ommatidia. Chicken Prox 1 cDNAs were isolated from 14 day embryonic chicken lenses, and a complete open reading frame encoding an 83 kDa protein was elucidated. The homeodomains of chicken and mouse Prox 1 are identical at the amino acid level and are 65-67% similar to the homeodomains of Drosophila and C. elegans prospero. The homology between these proteins extends beyond the homeodomain. There is 56% identity between chicken Prox 1 and Drosophila prospero in the C-terminal region downstream of the homeodomain, whereas there is little similarity upstream of the homeodomain. Prox 1 is expressed most actively in the developing lens and midgut and at lower levels in the developing brain, heart, muscle, and retina. cDNA sequencing has established that there are alternatively spliced forms of the single Prox 1 gene, which probably account for the two abundant RNAs of about 2 and 8 kb and two less abundant RNAs close to 3.5 kb in length in the lens. In the lens fibers, only the shortest mRNA was present, whereas, in the epithelial cells, both short and long mRNAs were detected. By using in situ hybridization, expression of the Prox 1 gene was first detected at stage 14 in the early lens placode and slightly preceded the expression of delta 1-crystallin, the first crystallin gene expressed in the developing chicken lens. At later stages of development, Prox 1 mRNA was observed throughout the lens, but it appeared more abundant around the bow region of the equator than in the anterior epithelium or the fibers. In the retina, expression of the Prox 1 gene was detected mainly in the inner nuclear layer during later stages of histogenesis. The conserved pattern of Prox 1/prospero gene expression in vertebrates and Drosophila suggests that Prox 1, like Pax-6, may be essential for eye development in different systematic groups.