A deficiency in SUMOylation activity disrupts multiple pathways leading to neural tube and heart defects in Xenopus embryos.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adenovirus protein, Gam1, triggers the proteolytic destruction of the E1 SUMO-activating enzyme. Microinjection of an empirically determined amount of Gam1 mRNA into one-cell Xenopus embryos can reduce SUMOylation activity to undetectable, but nonlethal, levels, enabling an examination of the role of this post-translational modification during early vertebrate development.

Results

We find that SUMOylation-deficient embryos consistently exhibit defects in neural tube and heart development. We have measured differences in gene expression between control and embryos injected with Gam1 mRNA at three developmental stages: early gastrula (immediately following the initiation of zygotic transcription), late gastrula (completion of the formation of the three primary germ

SUBMITTER: Bertke MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6525467 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature