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Embryonic ethanol exposure alters expression of sox2 and other early transcripts in zebrafish, producing gastrulation defects.

ABSTRACT: Ethanol exposure during prenatal development causes fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), the most frequent preventable birth defect and neurodevelopmental disability syndrome. The molecular targets of ethanol toxicity during development are poorly understood. Developmental stages surrounding gastrulation are very sensitive to ethanol exposure. To understand the effects of ethanol on early transcripts during embryogenesis, we treated zebrafish embryos with ethanol during pre-gastrulation period and examined the transcripts by Affymetrix GeneChip microarray before gastrulation. We identified 521 significantly dysregulated genes, including 61 transcription factors in ethanol-exposed embryos. Sox2, the key regulator of pluripotency and early development was significantly reduced. Functional annotation analysis showed enrichment in transcription regulation, embryonic axes patterning, and signaling pathways, including Wnt, Notch and retinoic acid. We identified all potential genomic targets of 25 dysregulated transcription factors and compared their interactions with the ethanol-dysregulated genes. This analysis predicted that Sox2 targeted a large number of ethanol-dysregulated genes. A gene regulatory network analysis showed that many of the dysregulated genes are targeted by multiple transcription factors. Injection of sox2 mRNA partially rescued ethanol-induced gene expression, epiboly and gastrulation defects. Additional studies of this ethanol dysregulated network may identify therapeutic targets that coordinately regulate early development.

SUBMITTER: Sarmah S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7054311 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Embryonic ethanol exposure alters expression of sox2 and other early transcripts in zebrafish, producing gastrulation defects.

Sarmah Swapnalee S Srivastava Rajneesh R McClintick Jeanette N JN Janga Sarath C SC Edenberg Howard J HJ Marrs James A JA

Scientific reports 20200303 1

Ethanol exposure during prenatal development causes fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), the most frequent preventable birth defect and neurodevelopmental disability syndrome. The molecular targets of ethanol toxicity during development are poorly understood. Developmental stages surrounding gastrulation are very sensitive to ethanol exposure. To understand the effects of ethanol on early transcripts during embryogenesis, we treated zebrafish embryos with ethanol during pre-gastrulation perio ...[more]

PMID: 32127575

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Project description:Gene expression was measured using microarrays in 8 hour postfertilization embryos, comparing control versus ethanol-treated (2 to 8 hours postfertilization) embryos. This experiment was performed to determine the gene expression changes that occur in response to ethanol treatment as a model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) occurs when pregnant mothers consume alcohol, causing embryonic ethanol exposure and characteristic birth defects that include craniofacial, neural and cardiac defects. Gastrulation is a particularly sensitive developmental stage for teratogen exposure, and zebrafish is an outstanding model to study gastrulation and FASD. Epiboly (spreading blastomere cells over the yolk cell), prechordal plate migration and convergence/extension cell movements are sensitive to early ethanol exposure. Here, experiments are presented to characterize mechanisms of ethanol toxicity on epiboly and gastrulation. Epiboly mechanisms include blastomere radial intercalation cell movements and yolk cell microtubule cytoskeleton pulling the embryo to the vegetal pole. Both of these processes were disrupted by ethanol exposure. Ethanol effects on cell migration also indicated that cell adhesion was affected, which was confirmed by cell aggregation assays. E-cadherin cell adhesion molecule expression and distribution, which control epiboly and gastrulation, were not affected. Gene expression microarray analysis was used to identify potential causative factors for early development defects, and expression of the cell adhesion molecule protocadherin-18a (pcdh18a), which controls epiboly, was significantly reduced in ethanol-exposed embryos. Injecting pcdh18a synthetic mRNA in ethanol-treated embryos partially rescued epiboly cell movements, including enveloping layer cell shape changes. Together, data show that epiboly and gastrulation defects induced by ethanol are multifactorial, and include yolk cell (extraembryonic tissue) microtubule cytoskeleton disruption and blastomere adhesion defects, in part caused by reduced pcdh18a expression. Control vs. ethanol-treated zebrafish embryos that were treated from 2 to 8 hours postfertilization. Total RNA from control and ethanol-treated embryos were harvested at 8 hours postfertilization.

Dataset Information

Embryonic ethanol exposure alters expression of sox2 and other early transcripts in zebrafish, producing gastrulation defects.

Publications

Embryonic ethanol exposure alters expression of sox2 and other early transcripts in zebrafish, producing gastrulation defects.

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