Removal of developmentally regulated microexons has a minimal impact on larval zebrafish brain morphology and function.

ABSTRACT: Microexon splicing is a vertebrate-conserved process through which small, often in-frame, exons are differentially included during brain development and across neuron types. Although the protein sequences encoded by these exons are highly conserved and can mediate interactions, the neurobiological functions of only a small number have been characterized. To establish a more generalized understanding of their roles in brain development, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to remove 45 microexons in zebrafish and assessed larval brain activity, morphology, and behavior. Most mutants had minimal or no phenotypes at this developmental stage. Among previously studied microexons, we uncovered baseline and stimulus-driven phenotypes for two microexons (meA and meB) in ptprd and reduced activity in the tel

SUBMITTER: Calhoun CCS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12626420 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature