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Molecular cloning, characterization, and developmental expression of foxp1 in zebrafish

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Abstract

The forkhead transcription factor gene family encodes a large group of proteins that play critical roles in many developmental events. In this report, we describe the isolation and characterization of foxp1 in zebrafish. The full-length zebrafish foxp1 cDNA contains 2,440 bp encoding a protein of 659 amino acids which shares 72, 68, 68, 70, 65, and 62% overall identity with human, mouse, rat, chicken, zebra finch, and frog Foxp1, respectively. Results of whole-mount in situ hybridization showed that foxp1 exhibits very complex and dynamic expression pattern during early embryonic development. Prominent foxp1 expression is detected in many regions of the developing central nervous system, especially in midbrain–hindbrain boundary, hindbrain, and spinal cord. Strong expression is also observed in retina, ear, branchial arches, hatching gland, heart, pronephric duct, gut, proctodeum, pectoral fin, and swim bladder. These results provide evidence that foxp1 is likely to function as a very important transcription factor in the development of the central nervous system and many other organs in zebrafish.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor A.M. Meng for offering AB strain zebrafish as experimental materials and Mr. Y. Sai for assistance in sectioning. We thank Dr. Robert N Kelsh and Tom Chipperfield for proofreading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Cheng, Weiwei Fan, Xiaofang Guo, Xueyan Yang, Fan Liu & Daru Lu

  2. Department of Cardiology, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China

    Mei Chong & Yonghao Gui

  3. School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Wenjuan Zhang

Authors
  1. Lu Cheng
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  2. Mei Chong
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  3. Weiwei Fan
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  4. Xiaofang Guo
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  5. Wenjuan Zhang
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  6. Xueyan Yang
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  7. Fan Liu
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  8. Yonghao Gui
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  9. Daru Lu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yonghao Gui or Daru Lu.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Hammerschmidt

Cheng and Chong contributed equally to this paper.

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Cheng, L., Chong, M., Fan, W. et al. Molecular cloning, characterization, and developmental expression of foxp1 in zebrafish. Dev Genes Evol 217, 699–707 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-007-0177-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-007-0177-9

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