Foa, L., Jensen, K., Rajan, I., Bronson, Ki., Gasperini, Ro., Worley, P. F., Tu, J. C., Cline, H. T. (2005) Homer expression in the Xenopus tadpole nervous system. J Comp Neurol, 487 (1). pp. 42-53. ISSN 0021-9967 (Print)
Abstract
Homer proteins are integral components of the postsynaptic density and are thought to function in synaptogenesis and plasticity. In addition, overexpression of Homer in the developing Xenopus retinotectal system results in axonal pathfinding errors. Here we report that Xenopus contains the homer1 gene, expressed as the isoform, xhomer1b, which is highly homologous to the mammalian homer1b. The mammalian homer1 gene is expressed as three isoforms, the truncated or short form homer1a and the long forms homer1b and -1c. For Xenopus, we cloned three very similar variants of homer1b, identified as Xenopus xhomer1b.1, xhomer1b.2, and xhomer1b.3, which display up to 98% homology with each other and 90% similarity to mammalian homer1b. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Xenopus also contains a truncated form of the Homer1 protein, which could be induced by kainic acid injection and is likely homologous to the mammalian Homer1a. xHomer1b expression was unaffected by neuronal activity levels but was developmentally regulated. Within the brain, the spatial and temporal distributions of both Homer isoforms were similar in the neuropil and cell body regions. Homer1 was detected in motor axons. Differential distribution of the two isoforms was apparent: Homer1b immunoreactivity was prominent at junctions between soma and the ventricular surface; in the retina, the Mueller radial glia were immunoreactive for Homer1, but not Homer1b, suggesting the retinal glia contain only the Homer1a isoform. Homer1b expression in muscle was prominent throughout development and was aligned with the actin striations in skeletal muscle. The high level of conservation of the xhomer1 gene and the protein expression in the developing nervous system suggest that Homer1 expression may be important for normal neuronal circuit development.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Animals Base Sequence Brain growth & development metabolism Carrier Proteins genetics metabolism Gene Expression Regulation Developmental Larva genetics metabolism Molecular Sequence Data Muscle, Skeletal growth & development metabolism Neural Pathways cytology metabolism Neuroglia metabolism Neuronal Plasticity genetics physiology Neurons metabolism Protein Isoforms Retina growth & development metabolism Sequence Homology Spinal Cord growth & development metabolism Xenopus laevis genetics growth & development metabolism |
| Subjects: | bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein expression organism description > animal > Frog > xenopus |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Cline lab |
| Depositing User: | CSHL Librarian |
| Date: | 2005 |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Jan 2012 18:41 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Jan 2012 18:41 |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/22569 |
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