title: In silico and in vivo identification of the intermediate filament vimentin that is downregulated downstream of Brachyury during Xenopus embryogenesis.
abstract: Brachyury, a member of the T-box transcription family, has been suggested to be essential for morphogenetic movements in various processes of animal development. However, little is known about its critical transcriptional targets. In order to identify targets of Brachyury and understand the molecular mechanisms underlying morphogenetic movements, we first searched the genome sequence of Xenopus tropicalis, the only amphibian genomic sequence available, for Brachyury-binding sequences known as T-half sites, and then screened for the ones conserved between vertebrate genomes. We found three genes that have evolutionarily conserved T-half sites in the promoter regions and examined these genes experimentally to determine whether their expressions were regulated by Brachyury, using the animal cap system of Xenopus laevis embryos. Eventually, we obtained evidence that vimentin, encoding an intermediate filament protein, was a potential target of Brachyury. This is the first report to demonstrate that Brachyury might affect the cytoskeletal structure through regulating the expression of an intermediate filament protein, vimentin.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0814, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Kanako O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Koyanagi
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D005326:Fetal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014746:Vimentin / Q000235:genetics*; D014981:Xenopus / Q000235:genetics; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics; D000098908:Brachyury Protein
chemical_list: D005326:Fetal Proteins; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D014746:Vimentin; D000098908:Brachyury Protein