title: Opl: a zinc finger protein that regulates neural determination and patterning in Xenopus.
abstract: In order to study the mechanism of neural patterning in Xenopus, we used subtractive cloning to isolate genes activated early during this process. One gene isolated was opl, (odd-paired-like) that resembles the Drosophila pair-rule gene odd-paired and encodes a zinc finger protein that is a member of the Zic gene family. At the onset of gastrulation, opl is expressed throughout the presumptive neural plate, indicating that neural determination has begun at this stage while, by neurula, opl expression is restricted to the dorsal neural tube and neural crest. opl encodes a transcriptional activator, with a carboxy terminal regulatory domain, which when removed increases opl activity. opl both sensitizes animal cap ectoderm to the neural inducer noggin and alters the spectrum of genes induced by noggin, allowing activation of the midbrain marker engrailed. Consistent with the later dorsal neural expression of opl, the activated form of opl is able to induce neural crest and dorsal neural tube markers both in animal caps and whole embryos. In ventral ectoderm, opl induces formation of loose cell aggregates that may indicate neural crest precursor cells. Aggregates do not express an epidermal marker, indicating that opl suppresses ventral fates. Together, these data suggest that opl may mediate neural competence and may be involved in activation of midbrain, dorsal neural and neural crest fates.
authors.affiliation: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 02142, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gamse
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Merzdorf
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Apekin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sive
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D019521:Body Patterning; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004475:Ectoderm; D004627:Embryonic Induction; D004817:Epidermis / Q000196:embryology; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology; D000072041:PAX3 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology; D016335:Zinc Fingers; D000099176:Noggin Protein
chemical_list: D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D000072041:PAX3 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D011506:Proteins; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D000099176:Noggin Protein; C489411:Pax3 protein, Xenopus; C116546:Zic1 protein, Xenopus; C000604451:sna protein, Drosophila; C068686:Pax3 protein, mouse