AnkAT-1 is a novel gene mediating the apical tuft formation in the sea urchin embryo.

ABSTRACT: In sea urchin embryos, the apical tuft forms within the neurogenic animal plate. When FoxQ2, one of the earliest factors expressed specifically in the animal plate by early blastula stage, is knocked down, the structure of the apical tuft is altered. To determine the basis of this phenotype, we identified FoxQ2-dependent genes using microarray analysis. The most strongly down-regulated gene in FoxQ2 morphants encodes a protein with ankyrin repeats region in its N-terminal domain. We named this gene ankAT-1, Ankyrin-containing gene specific for Apical Tuft. Initially its expression in the animal pole region of very early blastula stage embryos is FoxQ2-independent but becomes FoxQ2-dependent beginning at mesenchyme blastula stage and continuing in the animal plate of 3-day larvae. Furthermo

SUBMITTER: Yaguchi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2976814 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature