Highly restricted pattern of connexin36 expression in chick somite development.

ABSTRACT: The gap junction protein connexin36 (CX36) has been well studied in the mature central nervous system, but there has been little information regarding its possible roles in embryonic development. We report here the isolation of the full-length chick CX36 coding sequence (predicted M(r) 35.1 kDa) and its strikingly restricted pattern of gene expression in the mesoderm of the chick embryo. In situ hybridization experiments demonstrated CX36 expression in somites by embryonic day 2. The transcripts first appeared dorsomedially within the somite and expanded ventrolaterally to form stripes in the middle of each somite. The CX36 stripes fell within somitic territories enriched in MYOD and FGF8 expression and impoverished in PAX3 transcripts, establishing that CX36 mRNA is expressed in the myoto

SUBMITTER: Berthoud VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2754387 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature