title: Molecular structure and expression patterns of flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) Myf-5, a myogenic regulatory factor.
abstract: Myf-5, a member of the myogenic regulatory factors (MRF), has been shown to be expressed in muscle precursors in early stage zebrafish embryos. The MRFs, including MyoD, Myf-5, Myogenin and MRF4, belong to the basic Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factors that contain a conserved basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) domain. To better understand the role of Myf-5 in the development of fish muscles, we have isolated the Myf-5 genomic sequence and cDNA from Flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), and analyzed its structures and patterns of expression. Promoter analysis identified several putative transcription factor binding sites such as an E-box, NF-Y sites that might confer muscle-specific expression. Myf-5 transcripts were first detected in the paraxial mesoderm that gives rise to slow muscles. During somitogenesis, Myf-5 expression was found in developing somites. Myf-5 expression decreased gradually in somites in the anterior region, but remained strong in the newly formed somites. In the hatching stage, the expression was also detected in other muscle cells such as head muscle and fin muscle. In the growing fish, RT-PCR results showed that Myf-5 was expressed in the skeletal muscle and intestine.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xungang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Pei-Jun
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yongli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005432:Flounder / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D029941:Fish Proteins; D051787:Myogenic Regulatory Factor 5