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Identification and functional characterization of novel transcriptional enhancers involved in regulating human GLI 3 expression during early development
Author(s) -
Anwar Saneela,
Minhas Rashid,
Ali Shahid,
Lambert Nicholas,
Kawakami Yasuhiko,
Elgar Greg,
Azam Syed Sikandar,
Abbasi Amir Ali
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.1111/dgd.12239
Subject(s) - gli3 , zebrafish , enhancer , biology , sonic hedgehog , transcription factor , hedgehog , microbiology and biotechnology , brachyury , gli2 , reporter gene , genetics , gene , gene expression , embryonic stem cell , repressor , mesoderm
The zinc‐finger transcription factor GLI 3 acts as a primary transducer of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling in a context‐dependent combinatorial fashion. GLI 3 participates in the patterning and growth of many organs, including the central nervous system ( CNS ) and limbs. Previously, we reported a subset of human intronic ci s‐regulators controlling many known aspects of endogenous Gli3 expression in mouse and zebrafish. Here we demonstrate in a transgenic zebrafish assay the potential of two novel tetrapod‐teleost conserved non‐coding elements ( CNE s) docking within GLI 3 intronic intervals (intron 3 and 4) to induce reporter gene expression at known sites of endogenous Gli3 transcription in embryonic domains such as the central nervous system ( CNS ) and limbs. Interestingly, the cell culture based assays reveal harmony with the context dependent dual nature of intra‐ GLI 3 conserved elements. Furthermore, a transgenic zebrafish assay of previously reported limb‐specific GLI 3 transcriptional enhancers (previously tested in mice and chicken limb buds) induced reporter gene expression in zebrafish blood precursor cells and notochord instead of fin. These results demonstrate that the appendage‐specific activity of a subset of GLI 3 ‐associated enhancers might be a tetrapod innovation. Taken together with our recent data, these results suggest that during the course of vertebrate evolution Gli3 expression control acquired a complex cis ‐regulatory landscape for spatiotemporal patterning of CNS and limbs. Comparative data from fish and mice suggest that the functional aspects of a subset of these cis ‐regulators have diverged significantly between these two lineages.