PUBLICATION

ff1b, the SF1 ortholog, is important for pancreatic islet cell development in zebrafish

Authors
Mazilu, J.K., Powers, J.W., Lin, S., and McCabe, E.R.
ID
ZDB-PUB-101027-29
Date
2010
Source
Molecular genetics and metabolism   101(4): 391-394 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Lin, Shuo
Keywords
Zebrafish, SF1, ff1b, Pancreas, Endocrine
MeSH Terms
  • Adrenal Cortex/growth & development
  • Adrenal Cortex/metabolism
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Islets of Langerhans/cytology*
  • Islets of Langerhans/metabolism
  • Male
  • Pancreas/cytology*
  • Pancreas/metabolism
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Steroidogenic Factor 1/metabolism
  • Transcription Factors/deficiency
  • Transcription Factors/genetics*
  • Transcription Factors/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/deficiency
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
20965759 Full text @ Mol. Genet. Metab.
Abstract
The adrenal cortex and pancreatic islets have endocrine functions, producing steroid-based hormones and insulin, respectively. Cells of the adrenal cortex originate in the mesoderm while the cells of pancreatic islets originate in the endoderm. The zebrafish is a powerful model for understanding organ development due to its ease of genetic and molecular manipulation, transparent embryos, and large number of progeny for statistically powerful experiments. Like humans, the zebrafish pancreas has both exocrine and endocrine functions; unlike humans, there is only one endocrine islet cell group, instead of multiple islets. Using an eGFP-transgenic line of zebrafish, we have observed that the steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1) ortholog, ff1b, which is critical for adrenal cortex development and function in the zebrafish, is also implicated in zebrafish pancreatic islet development. We show that interruption of ff1b expression using an ff1b-morpholino (MO) disrupts development of insulin expressing cells. We conclude that ff1b-MO alters pancreatic islet development in zebrafish, demonstrating the utility of the zebrafish as a model for studying pancreatic development. This work is consistent with previous studies in mouse and human that have suggested SF1 participates in the vascular and ductal development of the pancreas, and disruption of SF1 function leads to abnormal development of the pancreatic islets due to poor vascularization.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping