Abstract
Expression of myf-5, a key component of myogenic regulatory genes, expands into the ventral marginal zone during Xenopus gastrulation after the dorsal activation takes place. Little is known about how this dynamic expression pattern occurs. Here, we provide evidences to suggest that Activin/Nodal signals participate in the regulation of ventral expression of Xmyf-5 in gastrula embryos. Two Smad binding elements (SBEs) within the Xenopus myf-5 promoter can specifically interact with Smad4 protein. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the two SBEs are both indispensable for conferring responsiveness to Activin/Nodal signals and to ventral expression of myf-5 in Xenopus gastrula embryos.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 121-127 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
| Volume | 310 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 10 2003 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Drs. E.M. DeRobertis and W. Wu for plasmids. We thank Drs. W. Mei and Y.P. Chen for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30170111, 30270650) and the National Key Project for Basic Science Research of China (2001CB509901) to X.D.
Keywords
- Activin/Nodal signals
- Myogenesis
- Smad binding element
- Xenopus myf-5