Project description:Purpose: Construction of 3D zebrafish spatial transcriptomics data for studying the establishment of AP axis. Methods: We performed serial bulk RNA-seq data of zebrafish embryo at three development points. Using the published spatial transcriptomics data as references, we implemented Palette to infer spatial gene expression from bulk RNA-seq data and constructed 3D embryonic spatial transcriptomics. The constructed 3D transcriptomics data was then projected on zebrafish embryo images with 3D coordinates, establishing a spatial gene expression atlas named Danio rerio Asymmetrical Maps (DreAM). Results: DreAM provides a powerful platform for visualizing gene expression patterns on zebrafish morphology and investigating spatial cell-cell interactions. Conclusions: Our work used DreAM to explore the establishment of anteroposterior (AP) axis, and identified multiple morphogen gradients that played essential roles in determining cell AP positions. Finally, we difined a hox score, and comprehensively demonstrated the spatial collinearity of Hox genes at single-cell resolution during development.
Project description:To gain a better understanding of the diurnal variation in gene expression, we analyzed the changes in gene expression in the eye of zebrafish. Dual color oligonucleotide microarrays were used to compare total RNA harvested from eyes of adult zebrafish at midday and midnight. Statistical analyses identified 44 genes which showed significant, 2-fold or more change; 26 genes showed decreased expression at midnight (D/L ≤ 0.5) and 18 genes showed increased expression at midnight (D/L ≥ 2). Seven genes were further analyzed using qPCR. The results of qPCR identified AANAT, Mel1a1, Mel1a3, Mel1b1, Mel1b2 and Melc as genes that showed significant change in expression at dawn, dusk, midday and midnight. These results suggest that expression of melatonin receptors is subject to diurnal regulation.