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Published June 15, 2001 | public
Journal Article

DBHR, a Gene with Homology to Dopamine β-Hydroxylase, Is Expressed in the Neural Crest throughout Early Development

Abstract

In a screen for genes involved in neural crest development, we identified DBHR (DBH-Related), a putative monooxygenase with low homology to dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH). Here, we describe novel expression patterns for DBHR in the developing embryo and particularly the neural crest. DBHR is an early marker for prospective neural crest, with earliest expression at the neural plate border where neural crest is induced. Furthermore, DBHR expression persists in migrating neural crest and in many, though not all, crest derivatives. DBHR is also expressed in the myotome, from the earliest stages of its formation, and in distinct regions of the neural tube, including even-numbered rhombomeres of the hindbrain. In order to investigate the signals that regulate its segmented pattern in the hindbrain, we microsurgically rotated the rostrocaudal positions of rhombomeres 3/4. Despite their ectopic position, both rhombomeres continued to express DBHR at the level appropriate for their original location, indicating that DBHR is regulated autonomously within rhombomeres. We conclude that DBHR is a divergent member of a growing family of DBH-related genes; thus, DBHR represents a completely new type of neural crest marker, expressed throughout the development of the neural crest, with possible functions in cell–cell signaling.

Additional Information

© 2001 Academic Press. Received for publication December 18, 2000. Revised March 26, 2001. Accepted March 26, 2001. Published online May 11, 2001. We thank Dr. W. Funk for communication of the human MOX sequence, Dr. S. Bryant and Drs. A. Nieto and D. Wilkinson for chick embryo libraries, Dr. J. Sechrist for assistance with anatomical identification, and Drs. C. Baker and A. Groves for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (DE13223 and NS41070) to M.B.F., and A.K.K. was supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Cancer Research Fund of the Damon Runyon–Walter Winchell Foundation and from the National Institutes of Health (DE14134).

Additional details

Created:
August 21, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023