title: Her5 acts as a prepattern factor that blocks neurogenin1 and coe2 expression upstream of Notch to inhibit neurogenesis at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary.
abstract: Neurogenesis in both vertebrates and invertebrates is tightly controlled in time and space involving both positive and negative regulators. We report here that the bHLH factor Her5 acts as a prepattern gene to prevent neurogenesis in the anlage of the midbrain/hindbrain boundary in the zebrafish neural plate. This involves selective suppression of both neurogenin1 (ngn1) and coe2 mRNA expression in a process that is independent of Notch signalling, and where inhibition of either ngn1 or coe2 expression is sufficient to prevent neuronal differentiation across the midbrain-hindbrain boundary. A ngn1 transgene faithfully responds to Her5 and deletion analysis of the transgene identifies an E-box in a ngn1 upstream enhancer to be required for repression by Her5. Together our data demonstrate a role of Her5 as a prepattern factor in the spatial definition of proneural domains in the zebrafish neural plate, in a manner similar to its Drosophila homologue Hairy.
authors.affiliation: Zebrafish Neurogenetics Junior Research Group, Institute of Virology, Technical University-Munich, Trogerstrasse 4b, D-81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geling
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plessy
authors.forename: Sepand
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rastegar
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Strähle
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bally-Cuif
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D019521:Body Patterning; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004628:Embryonic Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D012249:Rhombencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019076:Transgenes; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D014157:Transcription Factors; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C474186:Her5 protein, zebrafish; C491765:ebf2 protein, zebrafish