Abstract
The involvement of Dec2, a member of the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) family, in cellular differentiation, hypoxia response, and circadian regulation has been investigated. Here we report the previously unknown spatiotemporal expression of Dec2 in zebrafish embryogenesis. Dec2 is dynamically expressed in zebrafish pineal gland, tract of the postoptic commissure, brain, notochord, heart, common cardinal vein (CCV), axial vein, pronephric duct, swim bladder, and early somites during embryogenesis, which implies that Dec2 is involved in zebrafish central nervous system development, cardiogenesis, and internal organs and somites formation. The embryonic expression patterns of zebrafish Dec2 and its homolog Dec1 partially overlap, but are distinct from each other. The Dec2 expression level was lower than that of Dec1 during zebrafish embryogenesis. Although Dec1 also contributed to zebrafish somites formation, cardiogenesis, and internal organs and central nervous system development, the two Dec genes were not likely to be simply redundant during zebrafish embryogenesis. Our results imply that Dec2, like its homolog Dec1, is involved in zebrafish cardiogenesis, central nervous system development, and internal organs and somites formation with distinct developmental roles.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (30771112), the State High Technology Development Program (863, 2006AA02Z161), and the National Basic Research Program (973, 2004cb518803) of China. We thank J. H. Yao for her technical assistance and suggestion, Professor A. M. Meng for AB strain zebrafish, Mr. Yin Sai for cryostat sectioning, and Mr. Yunfang Qu for microscope image capture.
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10695_2009_9341_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Fig. S1 Sequence analysis of zebrafish Dec2 and Dec1. (a) The zebrafish Dec2 nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence. The amino acid sequence is shown in single-letter code. The translation initial and stop codons are marked with a bold M and an asterisk (*), respectively. The in-frame stop codon and the poly(A) signature are underlined. The bHLH and orange domains are shaded. (b) Alignments of Homo sapiens, Canis lupus, Mus musculus, and Rattus norvegicus DEC2 amino acid sequences with Danio rerio DEC2. Amino acids are shaded in accordance with the degree of conservation using GeneDoc: black (highest similarity), gray (80% similarity), and light gray (60% similarity). (c) Phylogenetic tree of the Dec2 evolutionary relationship between Homo sapiens, Canis lupus, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, and Danio rerio. The lengths of the lines are proportional to evolutionary distances from the branch points. (d) Structural similarity between zebrafish DEC1 and DEC2 in BHLH and orange domains. (e) Genomic analysis of zfDec1 and zfDec2 genes. Intron and exon nucleotide sequences are shown in lowercase and uppercase letters, respectively. Bold letters indicate donor and acceptor splice sites. (TIFF 12426 kb)
10695_2009_9341_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Fig. S2 Differential expression patterns of Dec2 and Dec1 in zebrafish embryogenesis. Comparative whole-mount in-situ hybridization of Dec2 (a, c, e, g, i, k, m, o) and Dec1 (b, d, f, h, j, l, n, p) in zebrafish embryogenesis. Lateral view (c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, m, n, o, p), dorsal view (a, b, k, l), anterior to the left. Abbreviations: av, axial vein; ccv, common cardinal vein; h, heart; hb, hindbrain; i, iris; ir, intestine rod; mb, midbrain; n, notochord; nc, neural crest; ov, otic vesicle; p, pineal gland; pc, parachordal cartilage; pd, pronephric duct; pp, prechordal plate; rpe, retinal pigment epithelium; s, somite; sb, swim bladder; sh, shield; tp, tract of the postoptic commissure. (TIFF 21338 kb)
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Chen, L., Zhou, J., Xu, H. et al. Identification and developmental expression of Dec2 in zebrafish. Fish Physiol Biochem 36, 667–675 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-009-9341-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-009-9341-7