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Expression of the AmphiTcf gene in amphioxus: Insights into the evolution of the TCF/LEF gene family during vertebrate evolution
Author(s) -
Lin HsiuChin,
Holland Linda Z.,
Holland Nicholas D.
Publication year - 2006
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.20971
Subject(s) - biology , notochord , vertebrate , chordate , brachyury , genetics , gastrulation , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , embryogenesis , mesoderm , embryonic stem cell
Abstract T‐cell factor (TCF) and lymphoid enhancer factors (LEF) genes encode proteins that are transcription factors mediating β‐catenin/Wnt signaling. Whereas mammals have four such genes, the Florida amphioxus ( Branchiostoma floridae ) apparently has only one such gene ( AmphiTcf ). From cleavage through early gastrula, cytoplasmic maternal transcripts of this gene are localized toward the animal pole. In gastrulae, AmphiTcf expression begins in the mesendoderm. In neurulae, there is expression in the pharynx, hindgut, anterior notochord, somites, and at the anterior end of the neural plate. In early larvae, expression is detectable in the floor of the diencephalon, notochord, tail bud, forming somites, pharynx, and ciliated pit (a presumed homolog of the vertebrate adenohypophysis). Phylogenetic analysis of TCF/LEF proteins placed AmphiTcf as the sister group of a clade comprising vertebrate Tcf1, Lef1, Tcf3, and Tcf4. Comparison of developmental expression for amphioxus AmphiTcf and vertebrate TCF/LEF genes indicates that this gene family has undergone extensive subfunctionalization and neofunctionalization during vertebrate evolution. Developmental Dynamics 235:3396–3403, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.