title: Mechanisms underlying long- and short-range nodal signaling in Zebrafish.
abstract: Precise regulation of the signaling range of secreted molecules is essential for proper pattern formation during development. The Nodal family of TGF-beta proteins has been shown to function as both short- and long-range signals. But the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the regulation of the signaling range of zebrafish Nodal proteins Cyclops and Squint, which are short- and long-range signals, respectively. We show that (1) the stability of Cyclops and Squint correlates with the activity range but increasing the stability of the short-range Cyclops does not increase its signaling range; (2) structural differences in the N-terminus region of the mature peptides of Cyclops and Squint determine their differences in the signaling range and swapping the N-terminus region of the Squint mature ligand into that of Cyclops makes the latter function at a distance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: Xiao-hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Sheng-mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wei-qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D055458:Left-Right Determination Factors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055456:Nodal Signaling Ligands; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D015398:Signal Transduction; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D055458:Left-Right Determination Factors; D055456:Nodal Signaling Ligands; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C485171:ndr1 protein, zebrafish; C512832:ndr2 protein, zebrafish; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins