Role of TCF15 transcription factor in somite differentiation

SANCHEZ RS; SÁNCHEZ SS

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXII Annual Scientific Meeting of the Tucumán Biology Association; XX Annual Scientific Meeting of the Córdoba Biology Society; XXXIII Annual Scientific Meeting of the Cuyo Biology Society; XVII Annual Meeting of the Argentine Biology Society; 2015

Argentine Biology Society

Vertebrates have a metameric bodyplan that is based on the presence of somites. These are paired blocks of tissue located on either side of the neural tube which are formed sequentially by a regular segmentation of paraxial mesoderm. Once somites are formed, they mature and differentiate into myotomal, sclerotomal and dermatomal tissue, which eventually give rise to striated muscles in the body, to the axial skeleton and to the dermis of the back, respectively.Studies carried out in different animal models have demonstrated that transcription factor Tcf15 plays a crucial role in somite formation; however, its role in the differentiation of this mesodermal tissue has been little explored.This work aims at determining the role of the tcf15 gene in somite differentiation in X. laevis embryos. In gain and loss of function experiments, using inducible constructs and a specific antisense morpholino oligonucleotide, we found that an alteration in the level of Tcf15 protein affects the expression of muscular and chondrogenic differentiation molecular markers. Loss of function of tcf15 in the somite provoked a drastic reduction in the expression of MyoD, Myf-5 and pax3 myogenic markers; and of pax1, pax9, uncx and col2a chondrogenic markers while tcf15 overexpression induced ectopic expression of muscular genes. Taken together, these results enable us to conclude that tcf15 gene is required for somite differentiation.