The citoplasmic regulator Suppressor of Fused exerts a key rol in Indian Hedgehog/Gli3 pathway during neural crest development in Xenopus

JUAN P. FERNÁNDEZ; TRISTÁN H. AGUERO; GUILLERMINA HILL TERÁN; MANUEL J. AYBAR

Montevideo

Congreso; 6th International Meeting of the Latin American Society of Developmental Biology; 2012

Latinamerican Society for Developmental Biology

The neural crest (NC) develops at the border between neural plate and the prospective epidermis in all vertebrate embryos. NC cells are highly migratory and generate many cell derivatives (neurons, pigment cells, cartilage, glial cells, etc.). It has been demonstrated that several signals (BMP4, Wnt, FGF, etc.) are involved in the induction of this tissue. However, the participation of other genes and cell signals in NC specification has not been established. The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway regulates a wide variety of processes during embryonic development and presents a high conservation degree in differents species, from flies to humans. We have previously shown that Indian Hh (Ihh) and its transcription effector Gli3 participate in the NC induction in Xenopus laevis. The Gli proteins have a role as a part of Hh signaling complexes (HSCs). In this work we focus our analysis in regulatory aspects of the pathway, analyzing the role of crucial HSCs member Suppressor of Fused (Sufu), in the NC induction and NC derivatives. We show, for the first time, the presence of a short isoform of Sufu in Xenopus, called SufuN. Whole mount in situ hybridization revealed an overlappingexpression patterns of NC gene markers and Sufu. Gain and loss of function approach, using mRNA overexpression and oligonucleotide antisense morpholino against Sufu respectively, reveals that thisgene is involved and is required for proper NC formation. Considering all these results, we conclude that the Hh pathway is required for normal NC development and provides new clues on the role of HSC in the molecular regulation of Hh pathway inXenopus laevis.