Alternative splicing of jnk1a in zebrafish determines first heart field ventricular cardiomyocyte numbers through modulation of hand2 expression.

ABSTRACT: The planar cell polarity pathway is required for heart development and whilst the functions of most pathway members are known, the roles of the jnk genes in cardiac morphogenesis remain unknown as mouse mutants exhibit functional redundancy, with early embryonic lethality of compound mutants. In this study zebrafish were used to overcome early embryonic lethality in mouse models and establish the requirement for Jnk in heart development. Whole mount in-situ hybridisation and RT-PCR demonstrated that evolutionarily conserved alternative spliced jnk1a and jnk1b transcripts were expressed in the early developing heart. Maternal zygotic null mutant zebrafish lines for jnk1a and jnk1b, generated using CRISPR-Cas9, revealed a requirement for jnk1a in formation of the proximal, first heart field

SUBMITTER: Santos-Ledo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7259801 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature