Role of X-Delta-2 in the early neural development of Xenopus

The Drosophila Delta gene and its vertebrate homologues are ligands for the Notch receptor and are involved in a variety of developmental processes, including neurogenesis, boundary formation, and axon guidance. This study deals with the ectodermal expression and function of X-Delta-2 during early X...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental dynamics 2005-01, Vol.235 (3), p.802-810
Main Authors: Peres, Joao N, Durston, Antony J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Drosophila
Xenopus laevis
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Summary:The Drosophila Delta gene and its vertebrate homologues are ligands for the Notch receptor and are involved in a variety of developmental processes, including neurogenesis, boundary formation, and axon guidance. This study deals with the ectodermal expression and function of X-Delta-2 during early Xenopus laevis development. X-Delta-2 is expressed, from early neurula stages on, throughout the central nervous system (CNS; forebrain, eyes, midbrain, hindbrain, and spinal cord) and in the majority of the cranial placodes. Loss of function experiments using a morpholino knockdown approach revealed that X-Delta-2 is necessary for hindbrain segmentation and the correct specification of the anterior CNS. X-Delta-2 also seems to be important in the determination of the size of the eyes. Furthermore, our results suggest that X-Delta-2 is involved in the migration of the cranial placodes cells, as well the migration of the cranial neural crest cells. 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
ISSN:1058-8388
DOI:10.1002/dvdy.20677