title: Nato3 is an evolutionarily conserved bHLH transcription factor expressed in the CNS of Drosophila and mouse.
abstract: The evolutionarily conserved basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play important roles during development. Here we report the identification of Nato3 (nephew of atonal fer3) orthologs in Drosophila, C. elegans, mouse, and man, all of which share a high degree of similarity within the bHLH domain. Expression analysis revealed Nato3 transcripts in the central nervous system of both fly and mouse embryos. In the fly, Dnato3 is highly expressed in 9-15h embryos in a few ventral nerve cord cells and a subset of neurons in the brain. In mouse, the MNato3 transcripts were detected from embryonic day 7 until 5 weeks postnatally, with highest levels in the midbrain, thalamus, hypothalamus, pons, and medulla oblongata. In contrast to the brain, expression in the spinal cord was limited to the embryonic stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Animal Biology, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Segev
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Halachmi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salzberg
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ben-Arie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C435755:Fer3 protein, Drosophila; C499046:Ferd3l protein, mouse