Xenopus Zic3, a Primary Regulator Both in Neural and Neural Crest Development

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 94; no. 22; pp. 11980 - 11985
• Main Authors: Nakata, K, Nagai, T, Aruga, J, Mikoshiba, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 28.10.1997; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens, Differentiation; Biological Sciences; Biology; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Cloning, Molecular; Ectoderm; Embryonic Induction; Embryos; Epidermal cells; Gastrula; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Homeodomain Proteins - biosynthesis; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; In Situ Hybridization; Messenger RNA; Molecular Sequence Data; Nervous System - embryology; Neural cell adhesion molecules; Neural crest; Neural Crest - embryology; Neural development; Neurology; Neurons; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Prenatal development; Recombinant Proteins - biosynthesis; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RNA; Rodents; Signal Transduction; Transcription Factors - biosynthesis; Transcription Factors - genetics; Xenopus - embryology; Xenopus Proteins
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.94.22.11980

Xenopus Zic3 is a Xenopus homologue of mouse Zic and Drosophila pair-rule gene, odd-paired. We show here that Zic3 has significant roles both in neural and neural crest development in Xenopus embryo. Expression of Zic3 is first detected in prospective neural plate region at gastrulation. Onset of the expression was earlier than most proneural genes and followed chordin expression. The expression was induced by blockade of BMP4 signal. Overexpression of Zic3 resulted in hyperplastic neural and neural crest derived tissue. In animal cap explant, the overexpression of Zic3 induced expression of all the proneural genes and neural crest marker genes. These findings suggest that Zic3 can determine the ectodermal cell fate and promote the earliest step of neural and neural crest development.