Neural tissue is arisen from presumptive ectoderm via inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling during Xenopus early development. Previous studies demonstrate that ectopic expression of dominant negative BMP4 receptor (DNBR) produces neural tissue in animal cap explants (AC) and also increases the expression level of various genes involved in neurogenesis. To investigate detail mechanism of neurogenesis in transcriptional level, we analyzed RNAs increased by DNBR using total RNA sequencing analysis and identified several candidate genes. Among them, xCITED2 (Xenopus CBP/p300-interacting transcription activator) was induced 4.6 fold by DNBR and preferentially expressed in neural tissues at tadpole stage. Ectopic expression of xCITED2 induced anterior neural genes without mesoderm induction and reduced BMP downstream genes, an eye specific marker and posterior neural marker. Taken together, these results suggest that xCITED2 may have a role in the differentiation of anterior neural tissue during Xenopus early development.
Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins ; Ectoderm ; Embryonic Structures ; Eye ; Larva ; Mesoderm ; Neurogenesis ; RNA ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Xenopus

Neurogenesis is the process that develops neuroectoderm from ectoderm. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) inhibition in ectodermal cells is necessary and sufficient for neurogenesis in Xenopus embryos. To isolate genes involved in early neurogenesis, Xenous Affymetrix gene chips representing 14,400 genes were analyzed in early stage of neuroectodermal cells that were produced by inhibition of BMP signaling with overexpression of a dominant-negative receptor. We identified 265 candidate genes including 107 ESTs which were newly expressed during the early neurogenesis by blocking BMP signaling. The candidates of 10 ESTs were selected and examined for upregulation in neuroectoderm. Five EST genes were confirmed to be upregulated in neuroectoderm and examined for time-dependent expression patterns in intact embryos. Two EST genes were cloned and identified as a homology of CYP26c (Xl.1946.1.A1_at) and Kielin containing VWC domain (Xl.15853.1.A1_at). One of them, CYP26c, was further characterized for its transcriptional regulation and role of anterior-posterior patterning during neurogenesis. Taken together, we analyzed and characterized genes expressed in early neurogenesis. The results suggest that neurogenesis by inhibition of BMP provides useful system to isolate genes involved in early events of neurogenesis during early vertebrate embryogenesis.
Bone Morphogenetic Proteins ; Clone Cells ; DNA, Complementary ; Ectoderm ; Embryonic Development ; Embryonic Structures ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Female ; Neural Plate ; Neurogenesis ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Pregnancy ; Up-Regulation ; Vertebrates ; Xenopus