PUBLICATION
Evolutionary repression of chondrogenic genes in the vertebrate osteoblast
- Authors
- Nguyen, J.K.B., Eames, B.F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-200130-9
- Date
- 2020
- Source
- The FEBS journal 287(20): 4354-4361 (Other)
- Registered Authors
- Eames, Brian F.
- Keywords
- Xenopus tropicalis, RNA-seq, comparative transcriptomics, osteoblast molecular fingerprint, skeletal cell evolution
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Chondrogenesis/genetics*
- Osteoblasts/cytology
- Osteoblasts/metabolism*
- PubMed
- 31994313 Full text @ FEBS J.
Citation
Nguyen, J.K.B., Eames, B.F. (2020) Evolutionary repression of chondrogenic genes in the vertebrate osteoblast. The FEBS journal. 287(20):4354-4361.
Abstract
Gene expression in extant animals might reveal how skeletal cells have evolved over the past 500 million years. The cells that make up cartilage (chondrocytes) and bone (osteoblasts) express many of the same genes, but they also have important molecular differences that allow us to distinguish them as separate cell types. For example, traditional studies of later-diverged vertebrates, like mouse and chick, defined the genes Col2a1 and Sox9 as cartilage-specific. However, recent studies have shown that osteoblasts of earlier-diverged vertebrates, such as frog, gar, and zebrafish, express these "chondrogenic" markers. In this review, we examine the resulting hypothesis that chondrogenic gene expression became repressed in osteoblasts over evolutionary time. The amphibian is an under-explored skeletal model that is uniquely positioned to address this hypothesis, especially given that it diverged when life transitioned from water to land. Given the relationship between phylogeny and ontogeny, a novel discovery for skeletal cell evolution might bolster our understanding of skeletal cell development.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping