TY - JOUR
T1 - Activin receptor mRNA is expressed early in Xenopus embryogenesis and the level of the expression affects the body axis formation
AU - Kondo, Mariko
AU - Tashiro, Kosuke
AU - Fujii, Gen
AU - Asano, Misaki
AU - Miyoshi, Ryutaro
AU - Yamada, Ryutaro
AU - Muramatsu, Masami
AU - Shiokawa, Koichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Sdentific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan, a grant from The Fujisawa Foundation to K.S. (1990) and Nartshige Zoological Science Award to K. T. (1991).
PY - 1991/12/16
Y1 - 1991/12/16
N2 - Activin is a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and possesses various activities in cellular control phenomena. During Xenopus embryonic development, activin is thought to act as a natural mesoderm-inducing factor. We isolated here the Xenopus activin receptor cDNA from Xenopus tadpole cDNA library and examined the expression of the Xenopus activin receptor gene during the course of early embryonic development. The Xenopus activin receptor has an 87% homology at the level of deduced amino acid sequence with the mouse activin receptor, and using the cDNA obtained, three bands of mRNA with different lengths were detected in Xenopus embryos throughout early embryogenesis. We synthesized activin receptor mRNA in vitro and tested the effect of the injection of the mRNA into Xenopus fertllized eggs on subsequent development. When the synthetic mRNA was injected into uncleaved fertllized eggs, embryos with reduced trunk structure were formed. However, when the mRNA was injected into the ventral blastomeres at the 16-cell stage, embryos with a secondary body axis were formed. These results indicate the importance of the function of activin receptor in the reguiatory mechanism for body axis formation.
AB - Activin is a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and possesses various activities in cellular control phenomena. During Xenopus embryonic development, activin is thought to act as a natural mesoderm-inducing factor. We isolated here the Xenopus activin receptor cDNA from Xenopus tadpole cDNA library and examined the expression of the Xenopus activin receptor gene during the course of early embryonic development. The Xenopus activin receptor has an 87% homology at the level of deduced amino acid sequence with the mouse activin receptor, and using the cDNA obtained, three bands of mRNA with different lengths were detected in Xenopus embryos throughout early embryogenesis. We synthesized activin receptor mRNA in vitro and tested the effect of the injection of the mRNA into Xenopus fertllized eggs on subsequent development. When the synthetic mRNA was injected into uncleaved fertllized eggs, embryos with reduced trunk structure were formed. However, when the mRNA was injected into the ventral blastomeres at the 16-cell stage, embryos with a secondary body axis were formed. These results indicate the importance of the function of activin receptor in the reguiatory mechanism for body axis formation.
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U2 - 10.1016/0006-291X(91)91245-8
DO - 10.1016/0006-291X(91)91245-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 1661587
AN - SCOPUS:0026327214
VL - 181
SP - 684
EP - 690
JO - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
JF - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
SN - 0006-291X
IS - 2
ER -