Antisense inhibition of Xbrachyury impairs mesoderm formation in Xenopus embryos

Article Article scientifique Article Antisense inhibition of Xbrachyury impairs mesoderm formation in Xenopus embryos eng 2002 author Giovannini Natalia 29202 author Rungger Duri 25122 147-159 10.1046/j.1440-169x.2002.00630.x 0012-1592 Expression of the Xbrachyury (Xbra) gene was inhibited by antisense RNA synthesized in situ from an expression vector read by RNA polymerase III, injected into the fertilized egg or the 2-cell stage embryo of Xenopus laevis. Antisense-treated embryos had markedly reduced levels of Xbra mRNA and protein, and showed deficiencies in mesodermal derivatives and axis formation. In particular, organization of the posterior axis was affected, but often the anterior axis was also reduced. Some embryos failed to form mesoderm altogether and remained amorphous. The antisense effect is dose-dependent and may be ‘rescued' by overexpression of Xbra. In Xbra-deficient embryos, expression of several mesodermal genes (Xvent, pintallavis, Xlim, Xwnt-8 and noggin) was reduced to varying degrees, whereas goosecoid levels remained normal. The modified expression levels were partly normalized when Xbra deficiency was rescued. The observation that antisense inhibition yields slightly different phenotypes from dominant-negative inhibition suggests the recommendation of using several surrogate genetic approaches to determine the functional role of a gene in Xenopus development. Adenoviral a1 gene Microinjection Polymerase III vector Rescue Surrogate genetics Dewey 590 44 Département de génétique et évolution 162 false Development, growth & differentiation 44 2 c9afb4ba-daca-46fc-ba0d-95661adc8612 Article (Published version) Restricted N.Giovanni.pdf 327551 application/pdf restrictedAccess Faculté des sciences / Section de biologie / Département de génétique et évolution

Title	Published in	Access level	OA Policy	Year	Views	Downloads

Antisense inhibition of Xbrachyury impairs mesoderm formation in Xenopus embryos	Development, growth & differentiation			2002	509	0

Archive ouverte UNIGE

Giovannini, Natalia