title: Generation of aberrant transcripts of and free DNA ends in zebrafish no tail gene.
abstract: The zebrafish no tail gene (ntl) is indispensable for the formation of the notochord and the tail structure. In a wild-type zebrafish population, we occasionally observed adult zebrafish with a narrow or no tailfin. This led us to examine the hypothesis that the activity of ntl was somehow genetically unstable. Here we present two findings regarding the gene. First, approximately 3% of ntl transcripts were aberrant; most of them carried deletions at various positions. Second, free, DNA double-stranded ends (DSEs) were formed at an AT dinucleotide repeat in ntl. DSEs were also generated in another zebrafish gene, noggin2 (nog2). DSEs in ntl and nog2 had common characteristics, which suggested that the AT repeats in these genes elicited DSEs by blocking progression of the replication.
authors.affiliation: Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamakoshi
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shishido
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimoda
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D005326:Fetal Proteins; D040461:Gene Components; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics*; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000098908:Brachyury Protein
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005326:Fetal Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D000098908:Brachyury Protein