title: Neuron-specific expression of scratch genes during early zebrafish development.
abstract: Scratch (scrt) genes are neural-specific in mammals, but their homologues have not been well studied in non-mammalian vertebrates. In this report, we isolated three zebrafish scrt genes, scratch1a (scrt1a), scratch1b (scrt1b), and scratch2 (scrt2), which belong to the Snail superfamily of zinc finger transcription factors. Spatiotemporal expression analysis revealed that scrt1a and scrt2 were initially detected in the central nervous system (CNS) during early somitogenesis while scrt1b was first detectable in neuronal clusters in the brain during late somitogenesis. Interestingly, scrt-expressing cells largely overlapped with huC-positive differentiating neurons and partially with neurogenin1-positive neuronal precursor cells. In addition, scrt-expressing cells were dramatically increased in mind bomb, a neurogenic mutant. Taken together, these results suggest that each zebrafish scrt gene is specifically expressed in neuronal cells and may be involved in differentiation of distinct neuronal populations in the vertebrate nervous system.
authors: Department of Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Korea.
authors: Thi-Minh-Tho
authors: TM
authors: Dam
authors: Hyun-Taek
authors: HT
authors: Kim
authors: Hyun-Yi
authors: HY
authors: Moon
authors: Kyu-Seok
authors: KS
authors: Hwang
authors: Yun-Mi
authors: YM
authors: Jeong
authors: Kwan-Hee
authors: KH
authors: You
authors: Jeong-Soo
authors: JS
authors: Lee
authors: Cheol-Hee
authors: CH
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C561421:scrt2 protein, zebrafish