Molecular signaling in zebrafish development and the vertebrate phylotypic period.

ABSTRACT: During development vertebrate embryos pass through a stage where their morphology is most conserved between species, the phylotypic period (approximately the pharyngula). To explain the resistance to evolutionary changes of this period, one hypothesis suggests that it is characterized by a high level of interactions. Based on this hypothesis, we examined protein-protein interactions, signal transduction cascades and miRNAs over the course of zebrafish development, and the conservation of expression of these genes in mouse development. We also investigated the characteristics of genes highly expressed before or during the presumed phylotypic period. We show that while there is a high diversity of interactions during the phylotypic period (protein-DNA, RNA-RNA, cell-cell, and between tissues

SUBMITTER: Comte A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2855863 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature