Identification and Analysis of a Novel Cysteine Rich Protein
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Identification & analysis of a novel cysteine rich protein Edward George Coles Presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2002 Department of Developmental Neurobiology National Institute for Medical Research Mill Hill London NW7 lAA Department of Anatomy University College London University of London ProQuest Number: U643608 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U643608 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT During neurulation the hindbrain forms a series of transient segments termed rhombomeres (r) that underlie subsequent head development, but gaps remain in understanding of this process. This thesis describes a whole mount in situ hybridisation screen of a subtracted chick cDNA hindbrain library to identify further genes with potential roles during hindbrain development. The expression patterns of 445 randomly chosen clones have been analysed and 39 (9 %) of the cDNA clones were found to exhibit restricted expression within developing hindbrain tissue and/or adjacent tissue. Of these, 3 clones were identified that have previously characterised roles during hindbrain development. Nine clones identified in this screen encode molecules that are identical to or closely related to proteins with previously unknown roles in early embryonic neural development and 27 encode for proteins of unknown functions. One of the clones, 0B7/cE13, was identified during the in situ screen due to its expression pattern in the dorsal neural tube during the period of neural crest emergence. Analysis of the predicted peptide sequence suggests that cE13 is a secreted protein, that has a number of cysteine-rich repeat motifs found in bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) binding proteins. Detailed analysis of the expression pattern of E13 in both the chick and mouse shows that it is co-expressed or expressed in adjacent tissues compared with some members of the BMP signalling family in a number of embryonic tissues. Biochemical experiments demonstrate that chick cE13 binds BMP-4 and functional analysis in Xenopus embryos shows that cE13 promotes the induction of Xhox3 expression by BMP-4. These findings implicate cE13 with a BMP modulating activity. Since BMPs have been implicated in neural crest cell induction, initiation of migration, and apoptosis, this suggests a role for E l3 in regulating aspects of neural crest development by BMPs. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincerest gratitude to my supervisor Dave, who initially gave me the opportunity to undertake this project and has since provided help, support and guidance. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jeff for his un-waving patience, advice, help and enthusiasm throughout the duration of the project and writing of this thesis — I could not have done it with out you, cheers cobba! There are many members of the Wilkinson lab both past and present that I would like to thank for their support, friendship and making the last three and a half years fly-by; I will miss you all. Thank-you to: Nobue Itasaki and Branko Latinkic for their advice and introducing me to the delights of working with Xenopus\ to Ian Harragan for histological sectioning; and to the NIMR photo-graphics section for help with Figures 5.5 and 5.6. A big thank-you to friends and family for their support throughout the past three-and-a-bit years. Last, but not least, a big thank-you to Donna for all her help and support, what can I say we did it! CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................3 CONTENTS............................................................................................. 4 LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................. 11 LIST OF TABLES................................................................................ 13 ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................... 14 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND............................................................................................. 17 1.2 NEURAL INDUCTION................................................................................. 18 1.2.1 Role of BMP in neural induction............................................................ 18 1.2.2 Modulation of BMP signalling ............................................................... 21 1.2.3 Regulation of the BMP-signalling pathway .......................................... 22 1.2.4 The BMP signalling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism ...............................................................................................24 1.3 PATTERNING THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM......................29 1.3.1 Segmentation of the hindbrain .................................................................29 1.3.2 Establishment of axial identity in the hindbrain ....................................30 1.3.3 Transcription factors ................................................................................31 1.3.4 Restriction of cell movements.................................................................32 1.3.5 Other molecules exhibiting restricted expression patterns in the developing hindbrain .............................................................................. 33 1.4 NEURAL CREST...........................................................................................34 1.4.1 Neural crest induction..............................................................................34 (0 Multiple roles for BMPs during neural crest induction................................... 35 (ii) Slug is a neural crest inducing molecule......................................................... 36 1.4.2 Initiation of neural crest migration.........................................................36 1.4.3 Migratory pathways of neural crest cells ...............................................38 1.4.4 Segmented migration of neural crest cells from the hindbrain .............39 1.4.5 Segmental migration of trunk neural crest cells.................................. 42 1.5 AIMS OF THE PROJECT.......................................................................... 43 CHAPTER TWO MATERIALS & METHODS 2.1 BACTERIAL STRAINS............................................................................... 44 2.2 MAINTENANCE & MANIPULATION OF BACTERIAL STRAINS.. .......................................................................................................................... 44 2.2.1 Bacterial growth media and antibiotics ..................................................44 2.2.2 Growth of bacterial cultures....................................................................45 2.2.3 Maintenance and storage of bacterial cultures.......................................45 2.2.4 Heat-shock transformation of competent cells ......................................45 2.3 ISOLATION, MANIPULATION & MODIFICATION OF DNA........46 2.3.1 Isolation of plasmid DNA ........................................................................46 2.3.2 Excision of phagemid DNA from Lambda ZAP 11 ...............................46 2.3.3 Restriction enzyme digestion of DN A ...................................................46 2.3.4 Phenol/chloroform extraction ................................................................. 46 2.3.5 Ethanol precipitation of DNA ................................................................. 46 2.3.6 Dephosphorylation of DNA .....................................................................47 2.3.7 Ligation of DNA fragments .....................................................................47 2.4 ANALYSIS OF DNA.....................................................................................48 2.4.1 Agarose gel electrophoresis .....................................................................48 2.4.2 Determination of nucleic acid concentration.........................................48 2.4.3 DNA sequencing & analysis ....................................................................48 2.5 SYNTHESIS OF mRNA............................................................................... 48 2.6 COLONY SCREENING USING RADIOACTIVE LABELED PROBES..........................................................................................................49 2.6.1 Colony blot ............................................................................................... 49 2.6.2 Hybridisation ............................................................................................49 2.7 DETECTION OF TRANSCRIPTS & EMBRYO MANIPULATION50 2.7.1 Generation of DIG labeled probes; in vitro transcription ......................50 2.7.2 Whole mount in situ hybridisation ..........................................................50 2.7.3 Flat-mounting and photography ..............................................................50 2.8 IN OVO ELECTROPORATION................................................................51