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XB-ART-14645
Development 1998 Aug 01;12515:2867-82. doi: 10.1242/dev.125.15.2867.
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Opl: a zinc finger protein that regulates neural determination and patterning in Xenopus.

Kuo JS , Patel M , Gamse J , Merzdorf C , Liu X , Apekin V , Sive H .


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In order to study the mechanism of neural patterning in Xenopus, we used subtractive cloning to isolate genes activated early during this process. One gene isolated was opl, (odd-paired-like) that resembles the Drosophila pair-rule gene odd-paired and encodes a zinc finger protein that is a member of the Zic gene family. At the onset of gastrulation, opl is expressed throughout the presumptive neural plate, indicating that neural determination has begun at this stage while, by neurula, opl expression is restricted to the dorsal neural tube and neural crest. opl encodes a transcriptional activator, with a carboxy terminal regulatory domain, which when removed increases opl activity. opl both sensitizes animal cap ectoderm to the neural inducer noggin and alters the spectrum of genes induced by noggin, allowing activation of the midbrain marker engrailed. Consistent with the later dorsal neural expression of opl, the activated form of opl is able to induce neural crest and dorsal neural tube markers both in animal caps and whole embryos. In ventral ectoderm, opl induces formation of loose cell aggregates that may indicate neural crest precursor cells. Aggregates do not express an epidermal marker, indicating that opl suppresses ventral fates. Together, these data suggest that opl may mediate neural competence and may be involved in activation of midbrain, dorsal neural and neural crest fates.

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Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: actl6a ascl2 cat.2 eef1a2 egr2 elavl1 en2 gal.2 gata2 gli3 hoxb9 hoxd1 krt12.4 muc2 muc2l myc ncam1 neurog1 nog otx2 pax3 shh snai2 tac1 tbx2 zic1


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