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Molecular evolution and expression of zebrafish St8SiaIII, an alpha‐2,8‐sialyltransferase involved in myotome development
Author(s) -
Bentrop Joachim,
Marx Monika,
Schattschneider Sebastian,
RiveraMilla Eric,
Bastmeyer Martin
Publication year - 2008
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.21451
Subject(s) - zebrafish , biology , somite , synteny , myotome , gastrulation , morpholino , genetics , vertebrate , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , chromosome , embryogenesis
Enzymes of the St8Sia family, a subgroup of the glycosyltransferases, mediate the transfer of sialic acid to glycoproteins or glycolipids. Here, we describe the cloning of the zebrafish St8SiaIII gene and study its developmental activity. A conserved synteny relationship among vertebrate chromosome regions containing St8SiaIII loci underscores an ancient duplication of this gene in the teleost fish lineage and a specific secondary loss of one paralog in the zebrafish. The single zebrafish St8SiaIII enzyme, which is expected to function as an oligosialyltransferase, lacks maternal activity, is weakly expressed during nervous system development, and shows a highly dynamic expression pattern in somites and somite‐derived structures. Morpholino knock‐down of St8SiaIII leads to anomalous somite morphologies, including defects in segment boundary formation and myotendious‐junction integrity. These phenotypes hint for a basic activity of zebrafish St8SiaIII during segmentation and somite formation, providing novel evidence for a non‐neuronal function of sialyltransferases during vertebrate development. Developmental Dynamics 237:808–818, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.