Expression of Fgfr2 in the early mouse embryo indicates its involvement in preimplantation development.
We report that the IIIc transcriptional alternative of Fgfr2 is transcribed in the unfertilized egg and that during early zygotic transcription, messages encoded by both Fgfr2 alternatives (IIIc and IIIb) are present. The Fgfr2 protein was first detected in peripheral blastomeres of compacted morulae. Trophectoderm specificity of Fgfr2 became obvious in the early blastocyst and with maturation its localization underwent further specification, Fgfr2 concentration increased at the abembryonic pole and decreased at the embryonic pole. Moreover Fgfr2 expression became markedly asymmetrical along the animal-vegetal axis of the mature blastocyst. Our observations indicate a role for Fgfr2 in trophectoderm growth and specification and in the orientation and polarity of the preimplantation conceptus.
Department of Molecular Genetics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
R
R
Haffner-Krausz
M
M
Gorivodsky
Y
Y
Chen
P
P
Lonai
D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000235:genetics; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D051497:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 2; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor / Q000502:physiology*
D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; C496354:Fgfr2 protein, mouse; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D051497:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 2