Xenbase Image ID: 79010

Fig1. A portion of cardiac alpha-actin promoter that is -580 bp is sufficient for correct expression in Xenopus embryos, tadpoles, and explants. (Top) Schematic presentation of -580 cardiac alpha-actin promoter. Transgene expression can be detected in the somites of the late neurula embryo and in myotomes, facial muscle and heart (h) of the larval tadpole, either by whole-mount in situ for GFP RNA (A, B) or by GFP fluorescence (C, D). (E) GFP activity in the tail of 7-day-old tadpole. (F) Ventral view of a 7-day-old tadpole, showing strong GFP activity in the heart (boxed), body wall, and jaw muscles. Anterior is to the right. (G) Close-up of the heart region boxed in (G). ot, outflow tract; v, ventricle. (H, I) Animal cap explants from F1 transgenic embryos cultured in the absence (H) or presence (I) of 8 U/ml activin until sibling embryos reached stage 24. GFP activity is only seen in animal caps treated with activin, demonstrating that the transgene is activated by the mesoderm- inducing signal. GFP expression can be used to monitor heart and head muscles in explants from F1 transgenic embryos. (J) Stage 34 control embryo, ventral view, anterior to the right. Strong expres- sion is detected in the heart (arrow) and head muscles (arrow heads). (K) A heart field explant excised at stage 22, oriented in the same way as an embryo in (J). Image published in: Latinkić BV et al. (2002) Copyright © 2002. Image reproduced with permission of the Publisher, Elsevier B. V. Larger Image Printer Friendly View

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