title: Early pretectal gene expression pattern shows a conserved anteroposterior tripartition in mouse and chicken.
abstract: A changing network of gene activity settles the molecular basis of regionalization in the nervous system. As a consequence, analysis of combined gene expressions patterns represents a powerful initial approach to decode the complex process that drives neurohistogenesis and generates distinct morphological features. We have started to do a comparative screening of molecular regionalization in the mouse and chicken pretectal region at selected developmental stages. The pretectal region is composed of alar and roof plate derivatives of prosomere 1. This is a poorly understood region, best characterized in avian embryos and adults because nuclear cytoarchitectonic delimitation is clearer in these animals. During the early regionalization process the main pretectal boundaries and histogenetic/progenitor domains are established. We explore here Pax3, Pax6 and Six3 mRNA expression (and PAX3 immunoreactivity) in both chicken and mice, with the aim to compare their respective patterns. Our focus is centered on stages HH22-HH24 in chicken and embryonic days E11.5-E12.5 in mice. We found that, in both vertebrates, the same three main anteroposterior subdivisions are distinguished by these markers. They were defined as precommissural, juxtacommissural and commissural pretectal domains. These preliminary data represent an initial scaffold to explore more detailed pretectal regionalization processes and provide an important new key to approach unresolved pretectal homologies between vertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, University of Murcia, and Centre for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER736), School of Medicine, Murcia E30071, Spain. jlferran@um.es
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ferran
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Arrones
authors.forename: Sylvia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bardet
authors.forename: Juan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sandoval
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez-de-la-Torre
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Puelles
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004027:Diencephalon / Q000196:embryology*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000097607:Homeobox Protein SIX3
chemical_list: D005136:Eye Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D000097607:Homeobox Protein SIX3