Wang C et al. (2011), Characterization of three synuclein genes in Xe...

XB-ART-43548

Dev Dyn 2011 Aug 01;2408:2028-33. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.22693.

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Characterization of three synuclein genes in Xenopus laevis.

Wang C , Liu Y , Chan WY , Chan SO , Grunz H , Zhao H .

Abstract
The synuclein family consists of three small intracellular proteins mainly expressed in neural tissues, and has been associated with human neurodegenerative diseases. We have examined the spatial and temporal expression patterns of three synuclein genes during embryogenesis of Xenopus laevis. The Xenopus synucleins were firstly expressed in the developing nervous system at the tail bud stages. At tadpole stages, Xenopus snca was expressed in the brain, branchial arch and somite, and sncbb signals were detected in entire brain and spinal cord. However, sncg was only expressed in the peripheral nervous system including trigeminal nerve and dorsal root ganglion. RT-PCR indicated that expression of synucleins was up-regulated at the end of neurulation, and then maintained at later examined stages. Our study provides the spatiotemporal expression patterns of the synuclein family genes in Xenopus embryos, and forms a basis for further functional analysis of synucleins.

PubMed ID: 21761485
Article link: Dev Dyn

Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: drg1 nr2e3 snca sncb sncg

Article Images: [+] show captions

	Figure 2. Spatial expression pattern of snca. snca becomes detectable in the brain from the tail bud stages. A�C, E, F: Lateral view. D: Dorsal view. G, H: Longitudinal sections of a stage-38 embryo. I�K: Transverse sections of a stage-38 embryo at the levels illustrated by black lines in F. ba, branchial arch; gcl, retinal ganglion cell layer; msz, marginal and subventricular zones of the midbrain and neural tube; nc, notochord; op, olfactory placode; ot, otic vesicle; s, somite.
	Figure 3. Expression of sncbb. No expression of sncbb is detected before the tail bud stages. A: Dorsal view of stage-18 embryos. sncbb is mainly expressed in brain and spinal cord at the tail bud and tadpole stages. B-I: Lateral view of tail bud- and tadpole-stage embryos with anterior toward the left. G′: Expression of Nr2e3 in the pineal gland and retina of a stage-32 embryo. J, K: Longitudinal sections of a stage-35 embryo. L-P: Transverse sections of a stage-35 embryo at the levels illustrated with black lines in H. e, eye; IX, cranial nerve IX; msz, marginal and subventricular zones of the midbrain and neural tube; nc, notochord; op, olfactory placode; ot, otic vesicle; pg, pineal gland; re, retina; sc, spinal cord; tn, trigeminal nerve; vn, vestibulocochlear nerve; X, cranial nerve X.
	Figure 4. Expression of sncg. sncg is not detected before stage 19, but its expression becomes detectable in the cranial nerves, and dorsal root ganglia at the tail bud and tadpole stages. A, F: Dorsal view. B-E, G: Lateral view with anterior toward the left. H-J: Transverse sections of embryos at the levels illustrated by black lines in E. drg, dorsal root ganglion; IX, cranial nerve IX; pg, pineal gland; tn, trigeminal nerve; vn, vestibulocochlear nerve; X, cranial nerve X.
	Figure 5. RT-PCR analysis of Xenopus snca, sncbb, and sncg expression at indicated stages. ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) was used as the internal standard control. �RT, without reverse transcriptase.
	snca (synuclein, alpha (non A4 component of amyloid precursor) ) gene expression in Xenopus laevis embryo, assayed via in situ hybridization, NF stage 30, lateral view, anterior left, dorsal up.
	sncb (synuclein, beta) gene expression in Xenopus laevis embryo, assayed via in situ hybridization, NF stage 28, lateral view, anterior left, dorsal up.
	sncb (synuclein, beta) gene expression in Xenopus laevis embryo, assayed via in situ hybridization, NF stage 35, lateral view, anterior left, dorsal up.
	sncg (synuclein, gamma (breast cancer-specific protein 1)) gene expression in Xenopus laevis embryo, assayed via in situ hybridization, NF stage 35, lateral view, anterior left, dorsal up.