Abstract
A novel gene, AmphiSom, was identified in amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense. Its sequence and developmental expression pattern were determined. AmphiSom transcripts were first detected in the presomitic mesoderm at the late gastrula stage and reached the highest level in the forming and nascent somites in neurulae. However, the expression of AmphiSom was rapidly down-regulated after somites were formed. It was maintained in the most anterior somite and most posterior somite at neurula stages. By 48 h, AmphiSom transcripts were detected only in the developing tail bud but were no longer detected in 72-h larva. Our data demonstrated that the AmphiSom gene is expressed during the development of somites in amphioxus and could play a role in somite formation.
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Acknowledgements
We express appreciation to Prof. Peijun Zhang, Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences, for assistance and providing the laboratory facilities with amphioxus embryos and larva culture. We thank Dr. Yingzi Cong, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, for reading the manuscript. This project was funded by grants from CNSF to Hongwei Zhang (30070094, 30270693).
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Communicated by N. Satoh
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Li, X., Zhang, W., Chen, D. et al. Expression of a novel somite-formation-related gene, AmphiSom, during amphioxus development. Dev Genes Evol 216, 52–55 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-005-0027-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-005-0027-6