Amphioxus AmphiDRAL encoding a LIM-domain protein: expression in the epidermis but not in the presumptive...

The sequence and developmental expression have been determined for amphioxus AmphiDRAL, which encodes a homolog of vertebrate DRAL (down-regulated in rhabdomyosarcoma LIM-protein). This is the first clear example of a DRAL homolog in an invertebrate. Detectable developmental expression begins at the gastrula stage in the epidermis, but not in the neuroectoderm; thus the early stages of AmphiDRAL expression indicate the neural/non-neural boundary. During subsequent embryonic stages, expression continues in the epidermis (but not in the developing central nervous system) until it fades during the later larval stages. Copyright 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All Rights Reserved