PUBLICATION
Development of pigment cells in the zebrafish embryo
- Authors
- Lister, J.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-021002-6
- Date
- 2002
- Source
- Microscopy research and technique 58(6): 435-441 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Lister, James A.
- Keywords
- mitf; nacre; neural crest; sox10; kit; fms; retinal pigment epithelium; RPE; Danio rerio
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Cell Differentiation*
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Neural Crest/cytology
- Neural Crest/embryology*
- Pigment Epithelium of Eye/cytology
- Pigment Epithelium of Eye/embryology*
- Pigmentation*
- Zebrafish/embryology*
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
- PubMed
- 12242700 Full text @ Microsc. Res. Tech.
Citation
Lister, J.A. (2002) Development of pigment cells in the zebrafish embryo. Microscopy research and technique. 58(6):435-441.
Abstract
In recent years, the zebrafish Danio rerio has emerged as a powerful model organism for the study of vertebrate embryogenesis. Zebrafish, like other vertebrates, possess pigment cells that arise from two distinct embryonic sources: those of the dermis and epidermis originate from the neural crest, while those that comprise the outermost layer of the retina, the retinal pigment epithelium or RPE, derive from the optic cup. A better understanding of processes behind the specification and differentiation of these cells will provide insight to the evolutionary diversification of all classes of vertebrates and will have clinical relevance to human disorders of pigmentation and certain retinopathies. In the first part of this review, the present knowledge of the ontogeny of both of these populations of pigment cells in the embryonic zebrafish is summarized, in terms of both genetics and molecular markers. The final part of the review focuses on duplicate zebrafish genes encoding orthologs of the basic helix-loop-helix/leucine zipper protein Mitf ( Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor), and presents a hypothesis concerning their divergent roles in neural crest and retinal pigment cells.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping