Int. J. Dev. Biol. 59: 471 - 478 (2015)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.150192ao

Vol 59, Issue 10-11-12

Expression of Sox genes in tooth development

Developmental Expression Pattern | Published: 15 January 2016

Katsushige Kawasaki^1,2, Maiko Kawasaki², Momoko Watanabe¹, Erik Idrus^1,3, Takahiro Nagai¹, Shelly Oommen², Takeyasu Maeda¹, Nobuko Hagiwara⁴, Jianwen Que⁵, Paul T. Sharpe*^,2 and Atsushi Ohazama*^,1,2

¹Division of Oral Anatomy, Department of Oral Biological Science, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan, ²Department of Craniofacial Development and Stem Cell Biology, Dental Institute, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, UK, ³Division of Preventive Dentistry, Department of Oral Health Science, Niigata University, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, ⁴Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA and ⁵Department of Medicine and Columbia Center for Human Development, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Abstract

Members of the Sox gene family play roles in many biological processes including organogenesis. We carried out comparative in situ hybridization analysis of seventeen sox genes (Sox1-14, 17, 18, 21) during murine odontogenesis from the epithelial thickening to the cytodifferentiation stages. Localized expression of five Sox genes (Sox6, 9, 13, 14 and 21) was observed in tooth bud epithelium. Sox13 showed restricted expression in the primary enamel knots. At the early bell stage, three Sox genes (Sox8, 11, 17 and 21) were expressed in pre-ameloblasts, whereas two others (Sox5 and 18) showed expression in odontoblasts. Sox genes thus showed a dynamic spatio-temporal expression during tooth development.

Keywords

Sox, tooth development, in situ hybridization