The mych gene is required for neural crest survival during zebrafish development.
BACKGROUND
Among Myc family genes, c-Myc is known to have a role in neural crest specification in Xenopus and in craniofacial development in the mouse. There is no information on the function of other Myc genes in neural crest development, or about any developmental role of zebrafish Myc genes.


RESULTS
We isolated the zebrafish mych (myc homologue) gene. Knockdown of mych leads to severe defects in craniofacial development and in certain other tissues including the eye. These phenotypes appear to be caused by cell death in the neural crest and in the eye field in the anterior brain.


CONCLUSIONS
Mych is a novel factor required for neural crest cell survival in zebrafish.
Hong
Sung-Kook
SK
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America. hongsk@mail.nih.gov
Tsang
Michael
M
Dawid
Igor B
IB
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D001934:Branchial Region / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000187:drug effects; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology*; D054258:Neural Plate / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000494:pharmacology; D010641:Phenotype; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D019170:Somites / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000187:drug effects; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D015415:Biomarkers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; C529127:Mych protein, zebrafish; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D014157:Transcription Factors; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins