TRP-2/DT, a new early melanoblast marker, shows that steel growth factor (c-kit ligand) is a survival factor.
We have used a probe derived from TRP-2/DT to detect migratory melanoblasts shortly after they emerge from the neural crest, as early as 10 days post coitum (dpc). TRP-2/DT expression is otherwise restricted to the presumptive pigmented retinal epithelium, the developing telencephalon and the endolymphatic duct. The pattern of steel and c-kit hybridisation in the developing brain differed from that of TRP-2. TRP-1 and tyrosinase probes also detected melanoblasts but were both expressed later in development than TRP-2. We used the TRP-2/DT probe to investigate the way that the Steel-dickie (Sld) mutation interferes with melanocyte development, and found that the membrane-bound steel growth factor which is missing in Sld/Sld mutants is necessary for the survival of melanoblasts but not for their early migration and initial differentiation.
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000196:embryology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000196:embryology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000235:genetics*; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology*; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000502:physiology; D005838:Genotype; D006243:Harderian Gland / Q000196:embryology; D016298:Hematopoietic Cell Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases; D007535:Isomerases / Q000235:genetics*; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit; D019089:Stem Cell Factor
D005819:Genetic Markers; D016298:Hematopoietic Cell Growth Factors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019089:Stem Cell Factor; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit; D007535:Isomerases; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases; C042501:dopachrome isomerase