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Coordinated and conserved expression of alphoid repeat and alphoid repeat‐tagged coding sequences
Author(s) -
Li YinXiong,
Kirby Margaret L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.10355
Subject(s) - biology , genetics , coding region , untranslated region , gene , repeated sequence , intron , complementary dna , rna , microbiology and biotechnology , genome
We have found an alpha‐like simple‐sequence DNA repeat that is differentially expressed during early embryogenesis in both chick and zebrafish. Before and during the primitive streak stage, transcripts of the alphoid repeat sequence were ubiquitously expressed throughout zebrafish and chick embryos. After headfold formation, expression was limited to the cardiac neural crest, the head, and the heart. Two types of alphoid repeat sequence transcripts were identified: alphoid repeat RNA and alphoid repeat‐tagged mRNA (ESαT). Several of the ESαTs were identified by (1) searching expressed sequence tag databases, (2) arbitrary rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), and (3) screening embryonic cDNA libraries. The alphoid element was located in the 3′ untranslated region of one ESαT that was obtained by RACE. The ESαT sequences encoded a variety of different types of proteins, but all were expressed within tissues that were positive for the alphoid repeat RNA. The presence of two types of coordinately expressed alphoid‐like repeat transcripts in maternal RNA with subsequent restriction to the head and heart, and the conservation of these features in disparate vertebrate embryos, suggest that the alphoid repeat sequence may serve as a control element in the gene regulation network. Developmental Dynamics 228:72–81, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.