Identification and expression of amphioxus AmphiSmad1/5/8 and AmphiSmad4.
Smad family proteins are identified as intracellular signal mediators of the TGF-β superfamily. In this study, we identified two novel members of the Smad family, termed as AmphiSmad1/5/8 and AmphiSmad4, from Chinese amphioxus. Both AmphiSmad1/5/8 and AmphiSmad4 showed a typical domain structure of Smad proteins consisting of conserved MH1 and MH2 domains. Phylogenetic analysis placed AmphiSmad1/5/8 in the Smad1, 5 and 8 subgroup of the R-Smad subfamily, and AmphiSmad4 in the Co-Smad subfamily. The spatial and temporal gene expression patterns of AmphiSmad1/5/8 and AmphiSmad4 showed that they may be involved in the embryonic development of notochord, myotome and alimentary canal, and may help to establish the specification of dorsal-ventral axis of amphioxus. Moreover, AmphiSmad1/5/8 and AmphiSmad4 showed extensive distribution in all adult tissues examined, suggesting that these two genes may play important roles in the morphogenesis of a variety of tissues especially notochord and gonad.
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Open Laboratory for Marine Functional Genomics of State High-Tech Development Program, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Xuesong
X
Yu
Jianwei
J
Li
Hui
H
Liu
Xiaodan
X
Li
Shangwu
S
Chen
Hongwei
H
Zhang
Anlong
A
Xu
D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D051898:Smad1 Protein / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051901:Smad4 Protein / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051902:Smad5 Protein / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051904:Smad8 Protein / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D051898:Smad1 Protein; D051901:Smad4 Protein; D051902:Smad5 Protein; D051904:Smad8 Protein