Fluorescent tagged analysis of neural gene function using mosaics in zebrafish and Xenopus laevis

An important question in the neurosciences is the role of specific gene expression in the control of neural morphology and connectivity. To address this question, methods are needed for expression of exogenous genes in a subset of neurons. This limited and mosaic expression allows the assessment of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research 2006-01, Vol.1070 (1), p.150-159
Main Authors: Conway, Greg, Torrejón, Marcela, Lin, Shuo, Reinsch, Sigrid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Genetically Modified
Biochemistry and metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Blastomeres
Central nervous system
Danio rerio
Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific - pharmacology
DNA - metabolism
DNA, Circular - physiology
EGFP
Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism
Embryo, Nonmammalian - physiology
Embryonic Development
Fluorescent Dyes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene Expression
Green Fluorescent Proteins - genetics
Injections
Mosaic expression
Mosaicism
Nervous System - embryology
Neuron
Neurons - classification
Neurons - metabolism
Neurons - physiology
Osmolar Concentration
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
TAGUM
Time Factors
Transgenic
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Xenopus laevis
Xenopus laevis - embryology
Xenopus laevis - genetics
Zebrafish - embryology
Zebrafish - genetics
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Summary:An important question in the neurosciences is the role of specific gene expression in the control of neural morphology and connectivity. To address this question, methods are needed for expression of exogenous genes in a subset of neurons. This limited and mosaic expression allows the assessment of gene expression in a cell autonomous fashion without environmental contributions from neighboring expressing cells. These methods must also label neurons so that detailed morphology and neural connections can be evaluated. The labeling method should label only a subset of neurons so that neuronal morphology can be viewed upon a non-stained background, in a Golgi staining fashion. Here, we report methods using plasmids called pTAGUM (tagged analysis of genes using mosaics) that accomplish these goals. These methods should prove useful for the analysis of neural gene function in two important model organisms, the zebrafish and Xenopus laevis.
ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/j.brainres.2005.11.079