Int. J. Dev. Biol. 54: 925 - 929 (2010)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.092933jc

Vol 54, Issue 5

Molecular cloning of chicken Cecr2 and its expression during chicken embryo development

Developmental Expression Pattern | Published: 5 February 2010

Jingchen Chen^1,2,4, Gabriela Morosan-Puopolo^1,3, Fangping Dai¹, Jianlin Wang² and Beate Brand-Saberi*^1,4

¹Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Molecular Embryology, University of Freiburg, Germany, ²School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, P.R. China, ³Institute of Biology I, University of Freiburg and ⁴Institute of Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Molecular Embryology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany

Abstract

Cecr2 is a transcription factor involved in neurulation and chromatin remodeling. In the present study, the full length of the coding sequence of the chicken orthologue Cecr2 was obtained by RT-PCR. Sequence analysis and alignment showed that it contained an AT hook, as well as a bromodomain which was highly conserved among different species, consistent with its role in chromatin remodeling. The expression pattern of chicken Cecr2 was subsequently investigated during the development of the chicken embryo by in situ hybridization. In addition to its predominant expression in neural tissues during neurulation, Cecr2 was also found to be expressed in the developing somites and in the intermediate zone of the spinal cord, suggesting that it may play a role in somite and neuronal development.

Keywords

Cecr2, myotome, spinal cord, neurulation, chicken embryo