Differential expression of the Groucho-related genes 4 and 5 during early development of Xenopus laevis

• Published in: Mechanisms of development Vol. 91; no. 1; pp. 311 - 315
• Main Authors: Molenaar, Miranda, Brian, Elisabeth, Roose, Jeroen, Clevers, Hans, Destrée, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.03.2000
• Subjects: Animals; Branchial arches; Cement gland; CNS; Co-Repressor Proteins; Cranial ganglia; Development; DNA-Binding Proteins; Ear vesicle; Embryo; Eye; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Groucho; Neural crest; Pronephric duct; Pronephros; Repressor Proteins - genetics; Repressors; Somite; Tcf; Transcription factors; Wnt; Xenopus laevis; Xenopus laevis - embryology; Xenopus laevis - genetics; Xenopus Proteins; Embryo; Transcription factors; Branchial arches; Xenopus laevis; CNS; Pronephros; Pronephric duct; Groucho; Neural crest; Eye; Repressors; Tcf; Development; Ear vesicle; Cement gland; Somite; Wnt; Cranial ganglia
• ISSN: 0925-4773; 1872-6356
• DOI: 10.1016/S0925-4773(99)00259-2

Recently, we demonstrated that the Xenopus Wnt effector XTcf-3 interacts with Groucho-related transcriptional repressors ( Roose et al., 1998. Nature 395, 608–612). A long form of the Groucho-related genes, XGrg-4, was shown to repress axis formation in the Xenopus embryo, whereas a short form, XGrg-5, acted as a potentiator. In this study, the temporal and spatial expression of XG rg-4 and XGrg-5 is described in Xenopus laevis embryos. Both genes are maternally expressed. In the gastrula, transcripts of both genes are present in the animal as well as the vegetal region. At later stages , XGrg-4 and XGrg-5 show specific patterns of expression in the central nervous system (CNS), cranial ganglia, eyes, otic vesicles, stomodeal-hypophyseal anlage, cement gland, head mesenchyme, branchial arches, neural crest and derivatives, somites, pronephros, pronephric duct, heart and tailbud. Differences in the expression of XGrg-4 and XGrg-5 were found in the CNS, cranial ganglia, olfactory placodes, stomodeal-pharyngeal anlage, cement gland, head mesenchyme and ectoderm.