Work

Genomic Organisation, Embryonic Expression and Biochemical Interactions of the Zebrafish Junctional Adhesion Molecule Family of Receptors

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: The mammalian JAM family is composed of three cell surface receptors. Interactions between the proteins have well-characterised roles in inflammation and tight junction formation, but little is known about their function in early development. Recently, we identified a role for jamb and jamc in zebrafish myocyte fusion. Genome duplication in the teleost lineage raised the possibility that additional JAM family paralogues may also function in muscle development. To address this, we searched the zebrafish genome to identify potential paralogues and confirmed their homology, bringing the total number of zebrafish jam family members to six. We then compared the physical binding properties of each paralogue by surface plasmon resonance and determined the gene expression patterns of all zebrafish jam genes at different stages of development. Our results suggest a significant sub-functionalisation of JAM-B and JAM-C orthologues with respect to binding strength (but not specificity) and gene expression. The paralogous genes, jamb2 and jamc2, were not detected in the somites or myotome of wild-type embryos. We conclude that it is unlikely that the paralogues have a function in primary myogenesis.

Source: PLoS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040810

Authors: Gareth T. Powell, Gavin J. Wright

Institution: Wellcome Sanger Institute

Language: English

Topic: Cell Adhesion Molecules Research

Subfield: Immunology and Allergy

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,382

Funder: Wellcome Trust