Conditional activation of Pax6 in the developing cortex of transgenic mice causes progenitor apoptosis

During development, Pax6 is expressed in a rostrolateral-high to caudomedial-low gradient in the majority of the cortical radial glial progenitors and endows them with neurogenic properties. Using a Cre/loxP-based approach, we studied the effect of conditional activation of two Pax6 isoforms, Pax6 and Pax6-5a, on the corticogenesis of transgenic mice. We found that activation of either Pax6 or Pax6-5a inhibits progenitor proliferation in the developing cortex. Upon activation of transgenic Pax6, specific progenitor pools with distinct endogenous Pax6 expression levels at different developmental stages show defects in cell cycle progression and in the acquisition of apoptotic or neuronal cell fate. The results provide new evidence for the complex role of Pax6 in mammalian corticogenesis.     

Distribution of Pax6 protein during eye development suggests discrete roles in proliferative and differentiated visual cells

 Although Pax6 is required during eye development in rodents and humans, little is known about the precise role of the protein in this process. To aid in the interpretation of functional studies, we have determined the precise spatial and temporal distributions of the Pax6 protein in the eye. We find that Pax6 is initially distributed contiguously throughout a large domain of the anterior neural plate of zebrafish, including the presumptive eye fields and the dorsal diencephalon. After evagination of the optic vesicle, Pax6 becomes restricted to all proliferating cells of the pigment epithelial and neural layers of the retina. Pax6 is downregulated in most cells concomitant with differentiation. However, it remains present in several mature cell types of the eye including amacrine cells and the lens and corneal epithelia. This expression is conserved across diverse vertebrate species and suggests that Pax6 has additional conserved functions in the mature eye. Received: 27 August 1996 / Accepted: 21 October 1996     

Pax基因功能及其选择性剪接的研究进展

Pax基因家族编码的蛋白是一组极为重要的转录调控因子,在胚胎发育的器官形成中扮演重要角色,其主要功能包括：调控细胞增殖、促进细胞自我更新、诱导前体细胞定向转移以及改变特异细胞系的分化方向。目前已知,Pax基因的非正常表达是多种先天性疾病的主要诱因。Pax基因的选择性剪接体通常具有一定的空间特异性,每种剪接体都有其主要作用的靶位和信号通路。文章简述了Pax基因的相关背景知识,详细介绍Paxl—Pax9调控在胚胎组织发育中的各项功能,并列举了现已确定的Pax基因在不同物种中的选择性剪接产物。     

AML1-ETO reprograms hematopoietic cell fate by downregulating scl expression

AML1-ETO is one of the most common chromosomal translocation products associated with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Patients carrying the AML1-ETO fusion gene exhibit an accumulation of granulocyte precursors in the bone marrow and the blood. Here, we describe a transgenic zebrafish line that enables inducible expression of the human AML1-ETO oncogene. Induced AML1-ETO expression in embryonic zebrafish causes a phenotype that recapitulates some aspects of human AML. Using this highly tractable model, we show that AML1-ETO redirects myeloerythroid progenitor cells that are developmentally programmed to adopt the erythroid cell fate into the granulocytic cell fate. This fate change is characterized by a loss of gata1 expression and an increase in pu.1 expression in myeloerythroid progenitor cells. Moreover, we identify scl as an early and essential mediator of the effect of AML1-ETO on hematopoietic cell fate. AML1-ETO quickly shuts off scl expression, and restoration of scl expression rescues the effects of AML1-ETO on myeloerythroid progenitor cell fate. These results demonstrate that scl is an important mediator of the ability of AML1-ETO to reprogram hematopoietic cell fate decisions, suggesting that scl may be an important contributor to AML1-ETO-associated leukemia. In addition, treatment of AML1-ETO transgenic zebrafish embryos with a histone deacetylase inhibitor, Trichostatin A, restores scl and gata1 expression, and ameliorates the accumulation of granulocytic cells caused by AML1-ETO. Thus, this zebrafish model facilitates in vivo dissection of AML1-ETO-mediated signaling, and will enable large-scale chemical screens to identify suppressors of the in vivo effects of AML1-ETO.     

Modified bacterial artificial chromosomes for zebrafish transgenesis

Transgenesis using bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) offers greater fidelity in directing desirable expression of foreign genes. Application of this technology in the optically transparent zebrafish with fluorescent protein reporters enables unparalleled visual analysis of regulation of gene expression in a living organism. Here we describe a streamlined procedure of direct selecting multiple BAC clones based on public sequence databases followed by rapid modification with GFP or RFP for transgenic analysis in zebrafish. Experimental procedures for BAC DNA preparation, microinjection of zebrafish embryos and screening of transgenic zebrafish carrying GFP/RFP modified BAC clones are detailed.