title: Expression patterns of musashi homologs of the ascidians, Halocynthia roretzi and Ciona intestinalis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Isoda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sasakura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishikata
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Makabe
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C088623:msi protein, Drosophila