title: Genome-wide analysis of the POU genes in medaka, focusing on expression in the optic tectum.
abstract: The highly conserved POU genes encode homeodomain transcription factors involved in various developmental events, with some, the Brn genes, playing key roles in neurogenesis. We investigated the evolutionary relationships between these genes, by studying the POU gene complement of a model teleost, the medaka (Oryzias latipes). We identified 17 POU genes and carried out a comprehensive in situ hybridization analysis focusing on the optic tectum, a cortical structure of the mesencephalon, in which cell positions and their differentiation states are spatially and temporally correlated. Six POU genes displayed patterned expression in the optic tectum: two genes were expressed in the center of the organ (a zone with differentiated neurons), two in an intermediate zone in which cells exit the cell cycle and two in the peripheral proliferation zone. These results suggest that POU genes may play key roles in both late neurogenesis and in multipotent neural progenitors.
authors.affiliation: MSNC INRA group, UPR 3294 NeD, Institut Fessard, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brombin
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Grossier
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heuzé
authors.forename: Zlatko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Radev
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bourrat
authors.forename: Jean-Stéphane
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jamen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D016678:Genome; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009990:Oryzias / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D050809:POU Domain Factors / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D019170:Somites / Q000196:embryology; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D050809:POU Domain Factors