Gene expression regulation during craniofacial development

CALCATERRA, N.B.

Montevideo

Simposio; First meeting of the Latin American Zebrafish Network (LAZEN); 2010

Instituto Pasteur-Montevideo

Craniofacial malformations are involved in three quarters of all congenital birth defects in humans, affecting development of the head, face, and/or neck. One of the key features of craniofacial development is the formation of cranial neural crest cells (NCC). The determination, survival, delamination, migration, and ultimate fate of these cells play important roles in regulating craniofacial development. Several proteins have been reported to be required for cranial NCC development. Cellular Nucleic Acid Binding Protein (CNBP) is one such protein. CNBP enhances the transcription of c-Myc and the synthesis of proteins of the translational machinery likely though the G-quadruplex folding promotion in its DNA and RNA targets. CNBP loss-of-function in zebrafish adversely affects the formation and survival of a subpopulation of cranial NCC, leading to reduction/loss of selected pharyngeal and craniofacial cartilaginous structures in the developing zebrafish. The expression of CNBP is restricted to the anterior-most regions of embryos; this spatiotemporal expression pattern is controlled by specific cis-elements located within the first intron of the cnbp gene. The restricted expression of CNBP may explain why a protein with a basic role in eukaryotic cells plays a critical role in craniofacial embryonic development.