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Localization of Cadm2a and Cadm3 proteins during development of the zebrafish nervous system
Author(s) -
Hunter Paul R.,
Nikolaou Nikolas,
Odermatt Benjamin,
Williams Philip R.,
Drescher Uwe,
Meyer Martin P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.22627
Subject(s) - zebrafish , biology , nervous system , immunoglobulin superfamily , central nervous system , neuroscience , axon guidance , model organism , cell adhesion molecule , neural development , spinal cord , microbiology and biotechnology , function (biology) , gene , genetics , axon
Members of the Cadm/SynCAM/Necl/IGSF/TSLC family of cell adhesion molecules are known to have diverse functions during development of the nervous system, but information regarding their role during central nervous system (CNS) development in vivo is scarce. The rapid development of a relatively simple nervous system in larval zebrafish makes them a highly tractable model organism for studying gene function during nervous system development. An essential prerequisite for functional studies is a description of protein localization. To address this we have generated subtype‐specific antibodies to two members of the zebrafish cell adhesion molecule family: cadm2a and cadm3. Using these novel antibodies we show that cadm3 and cadm2a are expressed throughout the nervous system of larval stage zebrafish. Particularly striking, and largely nonoverlapping expression of cadm2a and cadm3 is observed in the developing retina and spinal cord. Using in vitro binding assays we show that cadm2a and cadm3 bind heterophilically and preferentially to cadm1 and cadm4, respectively. These binding preferences are very similar to those seen for tetrapod Cadms but our study of protein localization suggests novel and diverse functions of cadms during nervous system development. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:2252–2270, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.