TY - JOUR
T1 - XATH-1, a vertebrate homolog of Drosophila atonal, induces neuronal differentiation within ectodermal progenitors
AU - Kim, Peter
AU - Helms, Amy W.
AU - Johnson, Jane E.
AU - Zimmerman, Kathryn
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Drs. Mary Beth Hatten, Ali Hem-mati-Brivanlou, David Anderson, Gordon Fishell, and Peter Fisher for their valuable insights during the course of this work as well as for their editorial advice during the preparation of the manuscript. We are particularly grateful to the Hemmati-Brivanlou lab for providing numerous reagents used in these studies and for their continued expert technical assistance. In addition, we thank Dr. M. Sargent for providing the Xenopus slug probe, Dr. Tom Jessell for providing PAX-3 and LH-2 probes and Islet-1 antibody, Dr. Jane Dodd for providing HNK-1 antibody, Drs. Qiufu Ma and David Anderson for providing X-NGNR-1 clones and Ari Gershon for providing the neuroD probe. K. Zimmerman also acknowledges Mary Beth Hatten for her continued support and encouragement. A.W.H. was supported by NIH Training Grant T32GM07062. This work was supported by an NIH First Award (R29 HD32968, K.Z.) and by the Council for Tobacco Research, U.S.A. (J.E.J.).
PY - 1997/7/1
Y1 - 1997/7/1
N2 - XATH-1, a basic/helix-loop-helix transcription factor and a homolog of Drosophila atonal and mammalian MATH-1, is expressed specifically in the dorsal hindbrain during Xenopus neural development. In order to investigate the role of XATH-1 in the neuronal differentiation process, we have examined the effects of XATH-1 overexpression during Xenopus development. XATH-1 induces the expression of neuronal differentiation markers, such as N- tubulin, within the neural plate as well as within nonneural ectodermal progenitor populations, resulting in the appearance of process-bearing neurons within the epidermis. The related basic/helix-loop-helix genes neurogenic-related-1 and neuroD are not induced in response to XATH-1 overexpression within the embryo, suggesting that XATH-1 may activate an alternate pathway of neuronal differentiation. In further contrast to neurogenic-related-1 and neuroD, high-level expression of general neural markers expressed earlier in development, such as N-CAM, is not induced by XATH-1 overexpression. Competent ectodermal progenitors therefore respond to ectopic XATH-1 expression by initiating a distinct program of neuronal differentiation.
AB - XATH-1, a basic/helix-loop-helix transcription factor and a homolog of Drosophila atonal and mammalian MATH-1, is expressed specifically in the dorsal hindbrain during Xenopus neural development. In order to investigate the role of XATH-1 in the neuronal differentiation process, we have examined the effects of XATH-1 overexpression during Xenopus development. XATH-1 induces the expression of neuronal differentiation markers, such as N- tubulin, within the neural plate as well as within nonneural ectodermal progenitor populations, resulting in the appearance of process-bearing neurons within the epidermis. The related basic/helix-loop-helix genes neurogenic-related-1 and neuroD are not induced in response to XATH-1 overexpression within the embryo, suggesting that XATH-1 may activate an alternate pathway of neuronal differentiation. In further contrast to neurogenic-related-1 and neuroD, high-level expression of general neural markers expressed earlier in development, such as N-CAM, is not induced by XATH-1 overexpression. Competent ectodermal progenitors therefore respond to ectopic XATH-1 expression by initiating a distinct program of neuronal differentiation.
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U2 - 10.1006/dbio.1997.8572
DO - 10.1006/dbio.1997.8572
M3 - Article
C2 - 9224669
AN - SCOPUS:0031194049
SN - 0012-1606
VL - 187
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Developmental Biology
JF - Developmental Biology
IS - 1
ER -