Gene regulatory network involved in the formation of central nervous system in ascidian embryos

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Despite containing only approximately 350 cells, the central nervous system (CNS) of Ciona intestinalis larvae has an architecture that is similar to the vertebrate CNS. To identify genes expressed in the CNS, we isolated CNS cells using transgenic embryos that showed robust Kaede expression in the larval CNS. With the aid of microarray, we identified 565 genes that are preferentially expressed in the CNS. In addition, tracing cells with specific gene expression and functional analyses of the genes resulted in several discoveries of the gene regulatory network involved in the formation of the Ciona larval CNS.