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Identification of a Xenopus glutamine synthetase gene abundantly expressed in the embryonic nervous system but not in adult brain
Author(s) -
Seigo Hatada,
Makoto Kinoshita,
Makoto Noda,
Makoto Asashima
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(95)00913-t
Subject(s) - biology , xenopus , neuroectoderm , neurula , gene , glutamine synthetase , in situ hybridization , microbiology and biotechnology , nervous system , gene expression , embryogenesis , embryonic stem cell , glutamine , genetics , gastrulation , amino acid , neuroscience , mesoderm
We used a PCR‐based subtraction cloning procedure with concanavalin A‐treated and ‐untreated animal caps from stage 9 Xenopus embryos to search for genes up‐regulated during early neural development. One such gene was found to encode a protein homologous to several known glutamine synthetases, and we named it xGS . Molecular hybridization studies revealed that xGS mRNA is maternally transmitted and abundantly expressed in neuroectoderm‐derived tissues during the gastrula and neurula stages. The expression of xGS mRNA in the nervous system continues until the larval stages, but declines thereafter and becomes undetectable in adult brain. Considering its metabolic activity and potential neuroprotective effect against the neurotoxic substances such as glutamate and ammonia, the glutamine synthetase may play an important role in the early stages of vertebrate neural development.