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The role of gsc and BMP‐4 in dorsal‐ventral patterning of the marginal zone in Xenopus: a loss‐of‐function study using antisense RNA.
Author(s) -
Steinbeisser H.,
Fainsod A.,
Niehrs C.,
Sasai Y.,
De Robertis E. M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb00208.x
Subject(s) - biology , xenopus , dorsum , loss function , function (biology) , rna , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy , antisense rna , genetics , gene , phenotype
The dorsal‐specific homeobox gene goosecoid (gsc) and the bone morphogenetic protein 4 gene (BMP‐4) are expressed in complementary regions of the Xenopus gastrula. Injection of gsc mRNA dorsalizes ventral mesodermal tissue and can induce axis formation in normal and UV‐ventralized embryos. On the other hand, BMP‐4 mRNA injection, which has a strong ventralizing effect on whole embryos, has been implicated in ventralization by UV, and can rescue tail structures in embryos dorsalized by LiCl. The above‐mentioned putative roles for BMP‐4 and gsc are based on gain‐of‐function experiments. In order to determine the in vivo role of these two genes in the patterning of the Xenopus mesoderm during gastrulation, partial loss‐of‐function experiments were performed using antisense RNA injections. Using marker genes that are expressed early in gastrulation, we show that antisense gsc RNA has a ventralizing effect on embryos, whereas antisense BMP‐4 RNA dorsalizes mesodermal tissue. These loss‐of‐function studies also show a requirement for gsc and BMP‐4 in the dorsalization induced by LiCl and in the ventralization generated by UV irradiation, respectively. Thus, both gain‐ and loss‐of‐function results for gsc and BMP‐4 support the view that these two genes are necessary components of the dorsal and ventral patterning pathways in Xenopus embryos.