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Characterization of SoxB2 and SoxC genes in amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri): Implications for their evolutionary conservation

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Abstract

Most Sox genes directly affect cell fate determination and differentiation. In this study, we isolated two Sox genes: SoxB2 and SoxC from amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri), the closest living invertebrate relative of the vertebrates. Alignments of SoxB2 and SoxC protein sequences and their vertebrate homologs show high conservation of their HMG domains. Phylogenic analysis shows that amphioxus SoxB2 and SoxC fall out of the vertebrate branches, suggesting that vertebrate homologs might arise from gene duplications during evolution. The two genes possess similar spatial and temporal expression patterns during embryogenesis and in adults. They are both maternally inherited. During neurulation, they are expressed in the neural ectoderm and archenterons. In adults, they are expressed not only in the nerve cord, but also in the gut, midgut diverticulum, gill and oocytes. These results suggest that amphioxus SoxB2 and SoxC might co-function and have conserved functions in the nervous system and gonads as their vertebrate homologs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental Biology, Life Science College, Key Lab of Experimental Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    YuShuang Lin, DongYan Chen, QiuSheng Fan & HongWei Zhang

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  1. YuShuang Lin
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  2. DongYan Chen
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Correspondence to HongWei Zhang.

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30700434 and 30671072), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Y2007D20), the Shandong Provincial Scientific Research Foundation for Excellent Young Scientists (Grant No. 2006BS02009), and the National Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2007CB815800 and 2007CB947100)

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Lin, Y., Chen, D., Fan, Q. et al. Characterization of SoxB2 and SoxC genes in amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri): Implications for their evolutionary conservation. SCI CHINA SER C 52, 813–822 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-009-0111-7

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