title: Spatial and temporal expression patterns of chitinase genes in developing zebrafish embryos.
abstract: Chitinases and chitinase like proteins play an important role in mammalian immunity and functions in early zebrafish development have been suggested. Here we report identification of six zebrafish chitinases and chitinase like proteins (called CHIA.1-6) belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 18, and determine their spatial and temporal expression at 10 stages of zebrafish development. CHIA.4 is highly maternally expressed and it is expressed 100 fold above any other CHIA gene at zygote through to blastula stage. Later, after the maternal to zygotic transition, CHIA.4 expression decreases to the same level as CHIA.5 and CHIA.6. Subsequently, CHIA.1, CHIA.2, CHIA.3 and CHIA.4, CHIA.5, CHIA.6 each follow distinct paths in terms of expression levels. Until 4 days post fertilization the spatial expression patterns of all six CHIA genes overlap extensively, with expression detected predominantly in vascular, ocular and intestinal tissues. At 5 days post fertilization CHIA.1, CHIA.2 and CHIA.3 are expressed almost exclusively in the stomach, whereas CHIA.4, CHIA.5 and CHIA.6 are also prominently expressed in the liver. These different expression patterns may contribute to the establishment of a basis on which functional analysis in older larvae may be founded.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signaling, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: bjornvk@mb.au.dk.
authors.forename: Bjørn E V
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signaling, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stougaard
authors.affiliation: Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signaling, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Institute of Biology, Molecular Cell Biology Department, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Herman P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Spaink
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D002688:Chitinases / Q000235:genetics*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D023061:Gene Order; D005810:Multigene Family; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D002688:Chitinases
keywords: Chitinase; Chitinase like protein; GH18; Immunity; Zebrafish embryonic development