PUBLICATION

Lithium perturbation and goosecoid expression identify a dorsal specification pathway in the pregastrula zebrafish

Authors
Stachel, S.E., Grunwald, D.J., and Myers, P.Z.
ID
ZDB-PUB-961014-1058
Date
1993
Source
Development (Cambridge, England)   117: 1261-1274 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Grunwald, David, Myers, Paul Z., Stachel, Scott E.
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Blastocyst/physiology*
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/anatomy & histology
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
  • Gene Expression
  • Genes, Homeobox/genetics*
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Lithium/metabolism*
  • Lithium/pharmacology
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Morphogenesis/drug effects
  • Morphogenesis/genetics
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Signal Transduction/drug effects
  • Signal Transduction/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
  • Zebrafish/genetics
PubMed
8104775 Full text @ Development
Abstract
The zebrafish dorsoventral axis can first be distinguished at gastrulation, upon formation of the embryonic shield, the site of the organizer. We have asked whether the shield is specified before gastrulation. First, we show that brief exposure of premidblastula embryos to lithium, which is known to shut down the phospho-inositol signaling pathway, produces excessive shield formation and extreme hyper-dorsal development. Second, we show that the zebrafish goosecoid homeobox gene is activated at or just after the midblastula in a localized domain of cells that subsequently populate the most anterior region of the incipient shield and axial hypoblast, goosecoid expression is elevated and radialized by early lithium treatment, suggesting that goosecoid plays a role in establishing the organizer and shield. Our results demonstrate that the zebrafish dorsal axis is signaled by a pathway initiated in the cleavage- stage embryo. Furthermore, they provide novel insights into anterior morphogenesis.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping