PUBLICATION
Over-expression of the bottlenose dolphin Hoxd13 gene in zebrafish provides new insights into the cetacean flipper formation
- Authors
- Sun, L., Cao, Y., Kong, Q., Huang, X., Yu, Z., Sun, D., Ren, W., Yang, G., Xu, S.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210625-16
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Genomics 113(5): 2925-2933 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- Cetacean flipper, Molecular evolution, Overexpression of Hoxd13
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Biological Evolution
- Bottle-Nosed Dolphin*/genetics
- Cetacea/genetics
- Hedgehog Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish*/genetics
- PubMed
- 34166750 Full text @ Genomics
Citation
Sun, L., Cao, Y., Kong, Q., Huang, X., Yu, Z., Sun, D., Ren, W., Yang, G., Xu, S. (2021) Over-expression of the bottlenose dolphin Hoxd13 gene in zebrafish provides new insights into the cetacean flipper formation. Genomics. 113(5):2925-2933.
Abstract
Cetaceans have evolved elongated soft-tissue flipper with digits made of hyperphalangy. Cetaceans were found to have 2-3 more alanine residues in Hoxd13 than other mammals, which were suggested to be related to their flipper. However, how Hoxd13 regulates other genes and induces hyperphalangy in cetaceans remain poorly understood. Here, we overexpressed the bottlenose dolphin Hoxd13 in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Combined with transcriptome data and evolutionary analyses, our results revealed that the Wingless/Integrated (Wnt) and Hedgehog signaling pathways and multiple genes might regulate hyperphalangy development in cetaceans. Meanwhile, the Notch and mitogen-activated protein kinase (Mapk) signaling pathways and Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (Fgfr1) are probably correlated with interdigital tissues retained in the cetacean flipper. In conclusion, this is the first study to use a transgenic zebrafish to explore the molecular evolution of Hoxd13 in cetaceans, and it provides new insights into cetacean flipper formation.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping