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Inhibition of neural crest migration in Xenopus using antisense slug RNA
Inhibition of neural crest migration in Xenopus using antisense slug RNA.
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Based primarily on studies in the chick, it has been assumed that the zinc finger transcription factor Slug is required for neural crest migration. In the mouse, however, Slug is not expressed in the premigratory neural crest, which forms normally in Slug -/- animals. To study the role of Slug in Xenopus laevis, we used the injection of XSlug antisense RNA and tissue transplantation. Injection of Slug antisense RNA did not suppress the early expression of the related gene XSnail, but led to reduced expression of both XSlug and XSnail in later stage embryos, whereas the expression of another neural crest marker, XTwist, was not affected. Down-regulation of XSlug and XSnail was associated with the inhibition of neural crest cell migration and the reduction or loss of many neural crest derivatives. In particular, the formation of rostral cartilages was often highly aberrant, whereas the posterior cartilages were less frequently affected. The effects of Slug antisense RNA on neural crest migration and cartilage formation were rescued by the injection of either XSlug or XSnail mRNA. These studies indicate that XSlug is required for neural crest migration, that XSlug and XSnail may be functionally redundant, and that both genes are required to maintain each other's expression in the neural crest development of xenopus laevis.
Carl TF, Dufton C, Hanken J, Klymkowsky MW
Developmental biology
1999-09-01 00:00
213
1
101-15
Animals,Cell Movement,Chick Embryo,Down-Regulation,In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence,Melanocytes,Mice,Neural Crest,RNA, Antisense,Transcription Factors,Xenopus laevis,RNA, Antisense,Transcription Factors,snail family transcription factors
Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
Dev. Biol.
NIGMS GM54001
0012-1606
10.1006/dbio.1999.9320
S0012-1606(99)99320-X
621
True
10452849
