title: Misexpression of BRE gene in the developing chick neural tube affects neurulation and somitogenesis.
abstract: The brain and reproductive expression (BRE) gene is expressed in numerous adult tissues and especially in the nervous and reproductive systems. However, little is known about BRE expression in the developing embryo or about its role in embryonic development. In this study, we used in situ hybridization to reveal the spatiotemporal expression pattern for BRE in chick embryo during development. To determine the importance of BRE in neurogenesis, we overexpressed BRE and also silenced BRE expression specifically in the neural tube. We established that overexpressing BRE in the neural tube indirectly accelerated Pax7(+) somite development and directly increased HNK-1(+) neural crest cell (NCC) migration and TuJ-1(+) neurite outgrowth. These altered morphogenetic processes were associated with changes in the cell cycle of NCCs and neural tube cells. The inverse effect was obtained when BRE expression was silenced in the neural tube. We also determined that BMP4 and Shh expression in the neural tube was affected by misexpression of BRE. This provides a possible mechanism for how altering BRE expression was able to affect somitogenesis, neurogenesis, and NCC migration. In summary, our results demonstrate that BRE plays an important role in regulating neurogenesis and indirectly somite differentiation during early chick embryo development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Manli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chuai
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yeuk-Hon Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Münsterberg
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Kenneth Ka Ho
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China yang_xuesong@126.com kaholee@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Xuesong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D002465:Cell Movement; D002642:Chick Embryo; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D054259:Neural Tube / Q000196:embryology*; D054261:Neurulation / Q000235:genetics*; D051763:PAX7 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D019170:Somites / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D055415:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D051763:PAX7 Transcription Factor