Expression patterns of musashi homologs of the ascidians, Halocynthia roretzi and Ciona intestinalis.
The gene family encoding RNA-binding proteins includes important regulators involved in the neurogenesis in both protostomes and deuterostomes. We isolated cDNAs of the ascidian homolog of one of the RNA-binding proteins, MUSASHI, from Halocynthia roretzi and Ciona intestinalis. The predicted amino acid sequences contained two RNA-recognition and RNA-binding motifs in the N-terminus and an ascidian-specific YG-rich domain in the C-terminus. Maternal transcripts of musashi were ubiquitous in early cleavage-stage embryos. Ascidian musashi had three domains of zygotic expression: the brain, nerve cord, and mesenchyma. The temporal order of the onset in these domains was highly divergent between the two species of ascidian examined.
Kawashima
T
T
Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
Murakami
A R
AR
Ogasawara
M
M
Tanaka
K
K
Isoda
R
R
Sasakura
Y
Y
Nishikata
T
T
Okano
H
H
Makabe
K W
KW
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014561:Urochordata / Q000235:genetics*
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C088623:msi protein, Drosophila