Cardiovasculature forms during evolution and arises from very early stage during embryonic development.Blood v...
Yu-Lin Xue~1,An Xiao~1,Yue Jia~1,Yue Gao~1,Zuo-Yan Zhu~1,Bo Zhang~1,Shuo Lin~(1,2) 1 Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation,Center of Developmental Biology and Genetics,College of Life Sciences,Peking University,Ministry of Education,Beijing 100871 2 Department of Molecular,Cell,and Developmental Biology,University of California,Los Angeles, Los Angeles,CA 90095-1606,USA
Zebrafish（Danio rerio） is a well-established vertebrate animal model.A comprehensive collection of reverse genetics tools has been developed for studying gene function in this useful organism.Morpholino is the most widely used reagent to knock down target gene expression post-transcriptionally.For a long time,targeted genome modification has been heavily relied on large-scale traditional forward genetic screens,such as ENU（N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea） mutagenesis derived TILLING（Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes） strategy and pseudo-typed retrovirus mediated insertional mutagenesis.Recently,engineered endonucleases,including ZFNs（zinc finger nucleases） and TALENs（transcription activator-like effector nucleases）,provide new and efficient strategies to directly generate site-specific indel mutations by inducing double strand breaks in target genes.Here we summarize the major reverse genetic approaches for loss-of-function studies used and emerging in zebrafish,including strategies based on genome-wide mutagenesis and methods for site-specific gene targeting.Future directions and expectations will also be discussed.
Mical （molecule interacting with CasL） represent a conserved family of cytosolic multidomain proteins that has been shown to be as- sociated with a variety of cellular processes, including axon guidance, cell movement, cell-cell junction formation, vesicle trafficking and cancer cell metastasis. However, the expression and function of these genes during embryonic development have not been comprehen- sively characterized, especially in vertebrate species, although some limited in vivo studies have been carried out in neural and muscula- ture systems of Drosophila and in neural systems of vertebrates. So far, no mical family homologs have been reported in zebrafish, an ideal vertebrate model for the study of developmental processes. Here we report eight homologs of mical family genes in zebrafish and their expression profiles during embryonic development. Consistent with the findings in Drosophila and mammals, most zebra_fish mical family genes display expression in neural and musculature systems. In addition, five mical homologs are detected in heart, and one, mi- call2a, in blood vessels. Our data established an important basis for further functional studies of mical family genes in zebrafish, and suggest a possible role for mical genes in cardiovascular development.
Pancreas is a vertebrate specific internal organ and consists of exocrine and endocrine compartments.The endoc...
Lin-Jie Xu~1,Wei Gao~1,Fei Qi~1,Zhi Jiang~1,Zuo-Yan Zhu~1,Bo Zhang~1,Shuo Lin~(1,2) 1 Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation,Center of Developmental Biology and Genetics,College of Life Sciences,Peking University,Ministry of Education,Beijing 100871 2 Department of Molecular,Cell & Developmental Biology,University of California,Los Angeles, Los Angeles,CA 90095-1606,USA
Through retrovirus insertion based mutagenesis screen in zebrafish（Danio reiro） we have obtained several inser...
Ying Zhang~1,Nai-Zhong Zheng~1,Shuo Lin~(1,2),Bo Zhang~1 1 Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation,Center of Developmental Biology and Genetics,College of Life Sciences,Peking University,Ministry of Education,Beijing 2 Department of Molecular,Cell & Developmental Biology,University of California,Los Angeles, Los Angeles,CA 90095-1606,USA
