fused-somites-like mutants exhibit defects in trunk vessel patterning.
We identified four mutants in two distinct loci exhibiting similar trunk vascular patterning defects in an F3 genetic screen for zebrafish vascular mutants. Initial vasculogenesis is not affected in these mutants, with proper specification and differentiation of endothelial cells. However, all four display severe defects in the growth and patterning of angiogenic vessels in the trunk, with ectopic branching and disoriented migration of intersegmental vessels. The four mutants are allelic to previously characterized mutants at the fused-somites (fss) and beamter (bea) loci, and they exhibit comparable defects in trunk somite boundary formation. The fss locus has been shown to correspond to tbx24; we show here that bea mutants are defective in the zebrafish dlC gene. Somitic expression of known vascular guidance factors efnb2a, sema3a1, and sema3a2 is aberrantly patterned in fss and bea mutants, suggesting that the vascular phenotype is due to loss of proper guidance cues provided by these factors.
Shaw
Kenna M
KM
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Castranova
Daniel A
DA
Pham
Van N
VN
Kamei
Makoto
M
Kidd
Kameha R
KR
Lo
Brigid D
BD
Torres-Vasquez
Jesus
J
Ruby
Alexander
A
Weinstein
Brant M
BM
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000196:embryology*; D019521:Body Patterning; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D009154:Mutation; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D039961:Semaphorins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019170:Somites / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D039961:Semaphorins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C120876:sema3aa protein, zebrafish; C405062:sema3ab protein, zebrafish; C491180:tbx6 protein, zebrafish