Expression of axolotl RNA-binding protein during development of the Mexican axolotl.
Amphibians occupy a central position in phylogeny between aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates and are widely used as model systems for studying vertebrate development. We have undertaken a comprehensive molecular approach to understand the early events related to embryonic development in the Mexican axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, which is an exquisite animal model for such explorations. Axolotl RBP is a RNA-binding protein which was isolated from the embryonic Mexican axolotl by subtraction hybridization and was found to show highest similarity with human, mouse, and Xenopus cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP). The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis suggests that it is expressed in most of the axolotl tissues except liver; the expression level appears to be highest in adult brain. We have also determined the temporal and spatial pattern of its expression at various stages of development. RT-PCR and in situ hybridization analyses indicate that expression of the AxRBP gene starts at stage 10-12 (gastrula), reaches a maxima around stage 15-20 (early tailbud), and then gradually declines through stage 40 (hatching). In situ hybridization suggests that the expression is at a maximum in neural plate and neural fold at stage 15 (neurula) of embryonic development.
Bhatia
R
R
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse 13210, USA.
Dube
D K
DK
Gaur
A
A
Robertson
D R
DR
Lemanski
S L
SL
McLean
M D
MD
Lemanski
L F
LF
D000557:Ambystoma / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014981:Xenopus
D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins