title: Dynamic changes in developmental gene expression in the basal chordate Ciona intestinalis.
abstract: Large-scale expressed sequence tags (EST) analysis was used to demonstrate a number of dynamic changes in the global gene expression profile of the basal chordate Ciona intestinalis over the course of its development. The fertilized egg was found to store a great variety of maternal transcripts and, as development proceeds, the organism expresses a progressively smaller repertoire of genes. In addition, a significant portion of genes involved in embryogenesis were observed to be downregulated during metamorphosis, at which point the adult appears to utilize a different set of genes to form its body. At least 25% of the genes involved in development were found to be used multiple times. This kind of information is essential to form a comprehensive understanding of the overarching expression-control plan by which the basic chordate body is formed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satou
authors.forename: Seiko D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Nori
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Satoh
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary