PUBLICATION
Mosaic hoxb4a neuronal pleiotropism in zebrafish caudal hindbrain
- Authors
- Ma, L.H., Punnamoottil, B., Rinkwitz, S., and Baker, R.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-090622-11
- Date
- 2009
- Source
- PLoS One 4(6): e5944 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Baker, Robert, Ma, Leung-Hang Omicron, Punnamoottil, Beena, Rinkwitz, Silke
- Keywords
- Neurons, Hindbrain, Yellow fluorescent protein, Neural pathways, Zebrafish, Cerebellum, Spinal cord, Mutant genotypes
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Axons
- Body Patterning
- Fluorescent Dyes/pharmacology
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism*
- In Situ Hybridization
- Microscopy, Confocal
- Neurons/metabolism
- Rhombencephalon/metabolism*
- Spinal Cord/metabolism
- Spinal Cord/pathology
- Transcription, Genetic
- Zebrafish
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- PubMed
- 19536294 Full text @ PLoS One
Citation
Ma, L.H., Punnamoottil, B., Rinkwitz, S., and Baker, R. (2009) Mosaic hoxb4a neuronal pleiotropism in zebrafish caudal hindbrain. PLoS One. 4(6):e5944.
Abstract
To better understand how individual genes and experience influence behavior, the role of a single homeotic unit, hoxb4a, was comprehensively analyzed in vivo by clonal and retrograde fluorescent labeling of caudal hindbrain neurons in a zebrafish enhancer-trap YFP line. A quantitative spatiotemporal neuronal atlas showed hoxb4a activity to be highly variable and mosaic in rhombomere 7-8 reticular, motoneuronal and precerebellar nuclei with expression decreasing differentially in all subgroups through juvenile stages. The extensive Hox mosaicism and widespread pleiotropism demonstrate that the same transcriptional protein plays a role in the development of circuits that drive behaviors from autonomic through motor function including cerebellar regulation. We propose that the continuous presence of hoxb4a positive neurons may provide a developmental plasticity for behavior-specific circuits to accommodate experience- and growth-related changes. Hence, the ubiquitous hoxb4a pleitropism and modularity likely offer an adaptable transcriptional element for circuit modification during both growth and evolution.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping