title: cfm is a novel gene uniquely expressed in developing forebrain and midbrain, but its null mutant exhibits no obvious phenotype.
abstract: A novel gene, cfm, that is expressed uniquely during early forebrain and midbrain development was isolated, and its null mutant was generated. cfm does not have any known functional domains, but is conserved in human, chick, Xenopus and zebrafish; a site of phosphorylation by MAP kinase exists in one of the domains conserved among them. Its expression was initially found at the 5-somite stage in the future midbrain and caudal forebrain region. The expression in mesencephalon subsequently decreased, was found in a stripe in the mid mesencephalon at E9.0. The expression in diencephalon was restricted to the dorsal thalamic region by E9.5 and to epiphysis at E12.5. In mouse a cognate, cfm2, exists that is expressed uniquely in the somite just formed and the presomite to be segmented, but not in forebrain or midbrain during early development. However, the cfm null mutant was live-born without any apparent defects.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Vertebrate Body Plan, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Kenryo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furushima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kiyonari
authors.forename: Miwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aizawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C502203:Rflnb protein, mouse