Spatiotemporal expression of Prdm genes during Xenopus development
Spatiotemporal expression of Prdm genes during Xenopus development
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DOI：
10.1007/s10616-015-9846-0
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发表时间：
2015-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Tashiro, Kosuke
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eguchi, Rieko;Yoshigai, Emi;Tashiro, Kosuke
表观遗传调控在胚胎发育、细胞分化和癌细胞调控中具有重要作用。表观遗传修饰的分子机制有DNA甲基化和组蛋白尾部修饰，如乙酰化、磷酸化和泛素化。到目前为止，已报道了多种具有不同功能基团的酶来修饰组蛋白尾部，并调节基因的表观遗传状态。其中，PrDM基因被鉴定为组蛋白甲基转移酶。Prdm基因具有N端PR/SET结构域和C端一些锌指结构域，因此被认为既具有DNA结合能力，又具有甲基化活性。在脊椎动物中，估计有15个成员属于Prdm基因家族。尽管Prdm基因被认为在决定细胞命运和细胞分化方面发挥着重要作用，但对其在早期发育中的表达和功能仍有不完全的了解。在这里，我们报道了Prdm基因在非洲爪哇胚胎发育中的动态表达模式。通过整体原位杂交分析，我们发现Prdm基因在胚胎中以空间定位的方式表达，所有Prdm基因都在发育中的中枢神经系统的神经细胞中表达。我们的研究表明，Prdm基因可能是在神经细胞分化中发挥作用的新候选基因。
Epigenetic regulation is known to be important in embryonic development, cell differentiation and regulation of cancer cells. Molecular mechanisms of epigenetic modification have DNA methylation and histone tail modification such as acetylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitination. Until now, many kinds of enzymes that modify histone tail with various functional groups have been reported and regulate the epigenetic state of genes. Among them, Prdm genes were identified as histone methyltransferase. Prdm genes are characterized by an N-terminal PR/SET domain and C-terminal some zinc finger domains and therefore they are considered to have both DNA-binding ability and methylation activity. Among vertebrate, fifteen members are estimated to belong to Prdm genes family. Even though Prdm genes are thought to play important roles for cell fate determination and cell differentiation, there is an incomplete understanding of their expression and functions in early development. Here, we report that Prdm genes exhibit dynamic expression pattern in Xenopus embryogenesis. By whole mount in situ hybridization analysis, we show that Prdm genes are expressed in spatially localized manners in embryo and all of Prdm genes are expressed in neural cells in developing central nervous systems. Our study suggests that Prdm genes may be new candidates to function in neural cell differentiation.