Premium
Characterization of amphioxus AmphiWnt8 : insights into the evolution of patterning of the embryonic dorsoventral axis
Author(s) -
Schubert Michael,
Holland Linda Z.,
Panopoulou Georgia D.,
Lehrach Hans,
Holland Nicholas D.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
evolution and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1525-142X
pISSN - 1520-541X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1525-142x.2000.00047.x
Subject(s) - biology , vertebrate , chordate , somitogenesis , forebrain , anatomy , mesoderm , hindgut , subfamily , evolutionary biology , embryogenesis , embryonic stem cell , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , embryo , genetics , somite , neuroscience , botany , larva , midgut , central nervous system
SUMMARY The full‐length sequence and developmental expression of an amphioxus Wnt gene ( AmphiWnt8 ) are described. In amphioxus embryos, the expression patterns of AmphiWnt8 suggest patterning roles in the forebrain, in the hindgut, and in the paraxial mesoderm that gives rise to the muscular somites. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that a single Wnt8 subfamily gene in an ancestral chordate duplicated early in vertebrate evolution into a Wnt8 clade and a Wnt8b clade. Coincident with this gene duplication, the functions of the ancestral AmphiWnt8 ‐like gene appear to have been divided between vertebrate Wnt8b (exclusively neurogenic, especially in the forebrain) and vertebrate Wnt8 (miscellaneous, especially in early somitogenesis). Amphioxus AmphiWnt8 and its vertebrate Wnt8 homologs probably play comparable roles in the early dorsoventral patterning of the embryonic body axis.