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VEB4: Early zygotic mRNA expressed asymmetrically along the animal‐vegetal axis of the sea urchin embryo
Author(s) -
Nasir Adnan,
Reynolds Susan D.,
Angerer Lynne M.,
Angerer Robert C.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-169x.1995.00007.x
Subject(s) - biology , sea urchin , blastomere , embryo , gene , polarity in embryogenesis , zygote , open reading frame , strongylocentrotus purpuratus , genetics , messenger rna , embryogenesis , gene expression , microbiology and biotechnology , gastrulation , peptide sequence
We have analyzed a gene, designated VEB4 , that is expressed transiently in very early blastulae of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus . Sequence analysis of the complete open reading frame shows that VEB4 encodes an unusual, highly charged protein with a pl of 9.55. We show here that VEB4 mRNA accumulate in a spatial pattern that is indistinguishable from that of two other recently described genes encoding metallo‐endoproteases, SpAN , related to astacin and SpHE , the hatching enzyme (Reynolds et al . 1992). VEB4 and other members of this gene set encode the earliest strictly zygotic gene products that have been identified. The asymmetric accumulation of VEB4 mRNA in non‐vegetal blastomeres of the 16 cell embryo and their descendants reflects the animal‐vegetal maternal developmental axis.