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Published August 2003 | public
Journal Article

Expression of a gene encoding a Gata transcription factor during embryogenesis of the starfish Asterina miniata

Abstract

The sea urchin zinc finger transcription factor SpGatae is a major activator of endomesoderm-specific regulatory genes. We have cloned the ortholog of this gene, AmGatae, from a distantly related echinoderm, the starfish Asterina miniata. Expression of AmGatae is first detected in a ring around the vegetal pole of the blastula. During gastrulation, transcripts are detected surrounding the blastopore, in the posterior archenteron and more faintly in the anterior mesoderm of the archenteron. In early bipinnaria larva, expression is localized to the midgut and hindgut and to the developing coelomic pouches. These observations show that despite differences in the early specification processes of the endomesoderm in starfish and sea urchins, gatae factors are expressed very similarly in these two taxa.

Additional Information

© 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. Received 14 February 2003; received in revised form 28 March 2003; accepted 28 March 2003. We are very grateful to Pei Yun Lee of this laboratory for providing us with the unpublished SpGatae sequence and details of the spatial distribution of SpGatae transcripts during S. purpuratus embryogenesis. We also thank Pat Leahy and the staff at Kerckhoff Marine Labs for starfish maintenance and Miki Yun with assistance with sequencing. This work was supported by a NASA/AMES grants NAG 2-1368 and NAG 2-1587 to EHD.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023