title: LZIC regulates neuronal survival during zebrafish development.
abstract: Development of the brain and central nervous system is a complex process involving localized gene expression and regulated cell death and proliferation. Here, we describe a gene involved in neuronal survival, the zebrafish ortholog of the human lzic gene. Zebrafish lzic is expressed ubiquitously during early development and later becomes enriched in the developing brain. Using antisense morpholino oligonucleotides, we demonstrate that zebrafish lzic is required zygotically for the survival of distinct neuronal populations. LZIC is closely related to ICAT, a physiological inhibitor of the Wnt pathway that interacts physically and functionally with beta-catenin to prevent the transcription of Wnt target genes. LZIC's ICAT-homologous region is highly similar to ICAT with particular conservation of residues that are used by ICAT for beta-catenin-binding. Surprisingly, despite this high similarity, LZIC does not interact with beta-catenin in vitro or in vivo. Our results reveal that LZIC, a protein conserved in vertebrates, is required for neuronal survival in zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-7350, USA.
authors.forename: Wilson K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Clements
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kimelman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495266:CTNNB1 protein, Xenopus; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; C495267:CTNNB1 protein, mouse; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; C447999:LZIC protein, human; C503985:LZIC protein, mouse; C503984:LZIC protein, zebrafish; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D015534:Trans-Activators; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin; C495269:ctnnb1 protein, zebrafish