PUBLICATION

Cereblon Control of Zebrafish Brain Size by Regulation of Neural Stem Cell Proliferation

Authors
Ando, H., Sato, T., Ito, T., Yamamoto, J., Sakamoto, S., Nitta, N., Asatsuma-Okumura, T., Shimizu, N., Mizushima, R., Aoki, I., Imai, T., Yamaguchi, Y., Berk, A.J., Handa, H.
ID
ZDB-PUB-190507-40
Date
2019
Source
iScience   15: 95-108 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Ando, Hideki, Sato, Tomomi, Shimizu, Nobuyuki
Keywords
Cellular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Molecular Neuroscience
MeSH Terms
none
PubMed
31055217 Full text @ iScience
Abstract
Thalidomide is a teratogen that causes multiple malformations in the developing baby through its interaction with cereblon (CRBN), a substrate receptor subunit of the CRL4 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. CRBN was originally reported as a gene associated with autosomal recessive non-syndromic mild mental retardation. However, the function of CRBN during brain development remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that CRBN promotes brain development by facilitating the proliferation of neural stem cells (NSCs). Knockdown of CRBN in zebrafish embryos impaired brain development and led to small brains, as did treatment with thalidomide. By contrast, overexpression of CRBN resulted in enlarged brains, leading to the expansion of NSC regions and increased cell proliferation in the early brain field and an expanded expression of brain region-specific genes and neural and glial marker genes. These results demonstrate that CRBN functions in the determination of brain size by regulating the proliferation of NSCs during development.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping