Int. J. Dev. Biol. 49: 891 - 894 (2005)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.052031tt

Vol 49, Issue 7

Expression of ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF)-like protein 6 during mouse embryonic development

Developmental Expression Pattern | Published: 1 September 2005

Tatsuyuki Takada*^,1,2, Keiko Iida^1,2, Hiroshi Sasaki³, Masanori Taira^2,4 and Hiroshi Kimura^1,2

¹Department of Experimental Radiology, Shiga University of Medical Science, Ohtsu, ²Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Agency, ³Laboratory for Embryonic Induction, RIKEN, Center for Developmental Biology, Chuo-ku, Kobe and ⁴Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF)-like protein 6 (ARL6) is a member of the ARF-like protein (ARL) subfamily of small GTPases (Moss, 1995; Chavrier, 1999). ARLs are highly conserved through evolution and most of them possess the consensus sequence required for GTP binding and hydrolysis (Pasquallato, 2002). Among ARLs, ARL6 which was initially isolated from a J2E erythroleukemic cell line is divergent in its consensus sequences and its expression has been shown to be limited to the brain and kidney in adult mouse (Ingley, 1999). Recently, it was reported that mutations of the ARL6 gene cause type 3 Bardet-Biedl syndrome in humans and that ARL6 is involved in ciliary transport in C. elegans (Chiang, 2004; Fan, 2004). Here, we investigated the expression pattern of ARL6 during early mouse development by whole-mount in situ hybridization and found that interestingly, ARL6 mRNA was localized around the node at 7.0-7.5 days post coitum (dpc) embryos, while weak expression was also found in the ectoderm. At the later stage (8.5 dpc) ARL6 was expressed in the neural plate and probably in the somites. Based on these results, a possible role of ARL6 in early development is discussed in relation to the findings in human and C. elegans (Chiang, 2004; Fan, 2004).

Keywords

ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF)-like protein 6 (ARL6), small GTPase, embryonic development, node, organizer