Comparison of the expression patterns of newly identified zebrafish retinoic acid and retinoid X receptors.
Retinoic acid (RA) signaling is important for multiple aspects of embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. Heterodimers of retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs) transduce RA signaling. It is not yet clear how the diversity of receptor combinations relates to the diversity of functions for RA. The expression patterns of three zebrafish RARs and four RXRs were reported recently. Here, we identify an additional RAR, a zebrafish RARgamma paralog, and two additional RXRs, duplicates of the previously identified RXRalpha and RXRgamma. Thus, the zebrafish genome contains duplicates of each RAR and RXR gene. All zebrafish RAR and RXR paralogs have overlapping and distinct areas of expression, as might be expected for duplicate genes in the process of diverging in function. By representing what is potentially the complete set of zebrafish RARs and RXRs, this study provides a valuable reference for future functional studies of the individual zebrafish RARs and RXRs.
Waxman
Joshua S
JS
Developmental Genetics Program and Department of Cell Biology, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.
Yelon
Deborah
D
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors