title: PCR-based cloning of an intronless zebrafish no tail gene.
abstract: The zebrafish no tail gene (ntl) is indispensable for the formation of the notochord and tail structure. Here, we show the presence of an intronless ntl gene in zebrafish, which we designated cryptail (ctl). ctl could not be found in any zebrafish genomic resources examined and was only just cloned by a PCR-based approach that relied on its lack of introns and homology to ntl. The amplifiable region of ctl was confined to the transcribed region of ntl. ctl thus appeared to have been generated by reverse transcription of ntl mRNA, like a processed pseudogene. ctl was very polymorphic even in individual fish, but had no missense mutations. This may suggest that ctl has a physiological function in zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto-cho, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamakoshi
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimoda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005326:Fetal Proteins; D007438:Introns; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015027:Zebrafish; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000098908:Brachyury Protein
chemical_list: D005326:Fetal Proteins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D000098908:Brachyury Protein