Journal
MECHANISMS OF DEVELOPMENT
Volume 113, Issue 1, Pages 95-98Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/S0925-4773(02)00005-9
Keywords
CTCF; insulator; Xenopus laevis; embryogenesis; nervous system
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The zinc finger protein CTCF has been shown to mediate multiple functions connected to gene repression. Transcriptional inhibition as well as enhancer blocking and chromatin insulation are documented for CTCF in men, mice and chickens. Additionally, hCTCF has been linked to epigenetics and disease. In line with these basic cellular functions, CTCF has been found to be expressed in every cell type and adult tissue tested and has thus been deemed an ubiquitous protein. Here, we report the identification of the CTCF homologue from Xenopus and the analysis of the spatio-temporal expression of xCTCF during embryogenesis. Within the DNA binding domain, xCTCF is virtually identical to other identified vertebrate CTCF proteins. Homology also extends to other conserved regions that are important for CTCF function. Although xCTCF mRNA is present during all stages of early Xenopus development, a remarkable increase in expression is observed in neuronal tissues. Early in development. xCTCF is highly expressed in the neural plate and later in the neural tube and developing brain. By tailbud stage, elevated expression is also seen in the developing sensory organs of the head. This is the first detailed description of the expression pattern of a vertebrate insulator protein during embryogenesis. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available