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Dynamic changes in developmental gene expression in the basal chordate Ciona intestinalis
Author(s) -
Kawashima Takeshi,
Satou Yutaka,
Murakami Seiko D.,
Satoh Nori
Publication year - 2005
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/j.1440-169x.2005.00794.x
Subject(s) - chordate , ciona intestinalis , biology , body plan , ciona , gene , metamorphosis , gene expression , basal (medicine) , computational biology , evolutionary biology , genetics , vertebrate , endocrinology , ecology , larva , insulin
Large‐scale expressed sequence tags (EST) analysis was used to demonstrate a number of dynamic changes in the global gene expression profile of the basal chordate Ciona intestinalis over the course of its development. The fertilized egg was found to store a great variety of maternal transcripts and, as development proceeds, the organism expresses a progressively smaller repertoire of genes. In addition, a significant portion of genes involved in embryogenesis were observed to be downregulated during metamorphosis, at which point the adult appears to utilize a different set of genes to form its body. At least 25% of the genes involved in development were found to be used multiple times. This kind of information is essential to form a comprehensive understanding of the overarching expression‐control plan by which the basic chordate body is formed.