Sox18 expression in blood vessels and feather buds during chicken embryogenesis.
Sox18 encodes a transcription factor known to be important for the development of blood vessels and hair follicles in mice. In order to study the functional conservation of this gene through evolution, we have isolated and characterized Sox18 in chickens. cSox18 shows a high degree of sequence homology to both the mouse and human orthologues, particularly in the high mobility group DNA-binding domain and to a lesser extent in the transcriptional activation domain. A region of unusually high sequence conservation at the C-terminus may represent a further, previously unrecognized functional domain. Both the chicken and human proteins appear to be truncated at the N-terminus relative to mouse SOX18. In situ hybridization analyses showed expression in the developing vasculature and feather follicles, consistent with reported expression in the mouse embryo. In addition, cSox18 mRNA was observed in the retina and claw beds.
Olsson
J E
JE
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Kamachi
Y
Y
Penning
S
S
Muscat
G E
GE
Kondoh
H
H
Koopman
P
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005241:Feathers / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055760:SOXF Transcription Factors; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins; D055760:SOXF Transcription Factors; C490653:Sox18 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012313:RNA