Spatiotemporal expression of Prdm genes during Xenopus development

Abstract

Epigenetic regulation is known to be important in embryonic development, cell differentiation and regulation of cancer cells. Molecular mechanisms of epigenetic modification have DNA methylation and histone tail modification such as acetylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitination. Until now, many kinds of enzymes that modify histone tail with various functional groups have been reported and regulate the epigenetic state of genes. Among them, Prdm genes were identified as histone methyltransferase. Prdm genes are characterized by an N-terminal PR/SET domain and C-terminal some zinc finger domains and therefore they are considered to have both DNA-binding ability and methylation activity. Among vertebrate, fifteen members are estimated to belong to Prdm genes family. Even though Prdm genes are thought to play important roles for cell fate determination and cell differentiation, there is an incomplete understanding of their expression and functions in early development. Here, we report that Prdm genes exhibit dynamic expression pattern in Xenopus embryogenesis. By whole mount in situ hybridization analysis, we show that Prdm genes are expressed in spatially localized manners in embryo and all of Prdm genes are expressed in neural cells in developing central nervous systems. Our study suggests that Prdm genes may be new candidates to function in neural cell differentiation.

Co-option of the PRDM14–CBFA2T complex from motor neurons to pluripotent cells during vertebrate evolution

“…Intriguingly, Prdm14 is expressed in the neuronal system in amphioxus, zebrafish and Xenopus embryos (Eguchi et al, 2015), and is required for motor neuron maturation in zebrafish embryos (Liu et al, 2012). The CBFA2T family is also expressed in the neural system in Xenopus and chicken embryos, and its expression is involved in neurogenesis, including motor neurons (Cao et al, 2002;Aaker et al, 2009).…”

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“…Studies in chick embryos showed that Prdm1 undergoes stage-specific binding to regulatory regions of neural and sensory progenitor genes in early neural plate and sensory progenitor cells (Prajapati et al, 2019). Prdm1 was also established to have a role in histone modification in Xenopus, having DNA binding ability and methylation activity throughout neural cell differentiation processes (Eguchi et al, 2015). This particular gene limits the function of the gastrula organizer and in turn regulates morphogenetic development and cell fate specification during early axes-determining stages (Wilm & Solnica-Kerzel, 2005).…”

Mutations in SIX1 Associated with Branchio-oto-Renal Syndrome (BOR) Differentially Affect Otic Expression of Putative Target Genes

“…eya2 is expressed in the pre-placodal region and acts as a Six1 cofactor to promote PPE gene expression and suppress neural plate and neural crest cell fates [ 29 , 44 , 45 ]. prdm1 (aka blimp1 ) encodes a transcription factor that plays a role in pharyngeal arch, neural crest and placode formation [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. spry1 encodes a negative regulator of FGF signaling and is expressed in several craniofacial tissues [ 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”