The International Journal of Developmental Biology

Int. J. Dev. Biol. 51: 123 - 129 (2007)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.062200fk

Vol 51, Issue 2

Cadherin-6 is required for zebrafish nephrogenesis during early development

Original Article | Published: 1 February 2007

Fumitaka Kubota1, Tohru Murakami*,1, Kenji Mogi2 and Hiroshi Yorifuji1

1Neuromuscular and Developmental Anatomy and 2Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan

Abstract

We performed functional analyses of cadherin-6 (cdh6) in zebrafish nephrogenesis using antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MO) inhibition combined with in situ hybridization. We have cloned a zebrafish homolog (accession number AB193290) of human K-cadherin (CDH6), which showed 60­63% identity and 76­78% similarity to the human, mouse, chicken and Xenopus homologs. Whole-mount in situ hybridization showed that cdh6 is expressed in the pronephric ducts and nephron primordia in addition to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Expression of cdh6 in the pronephric ducts was first detected at 14 hours post-fertilization (hpf) and increased to 24 hpf. Embryos injected with MOs directed against cdh6 (cdh6MOs) showed developmental defects, including a small head, body axis curvature, short yolk extension and a short bent tail by 30 hpf and edema appeared in the thorax by 42 hpf. Such defects and edema became more marked by 52 hpf and most of the affected embryos died by 5 days post-fertilization. Embryos injected with cdh6MOs were subjected to in situ hybridization with probes for the pronephric markers, wt1 and pax2.1, to examine disturbed development of the anterior region of the pronephric ducts and the nephron primordia. Histological studies showed malformation of the pronephros as abnormally fused glomerulus primordia, fused or abnormally bent pronephric tubule anlagen and coarctated pronephric ducts. These results suggest that cdh6 plays pivotal roles in the development of the pronephros in zebrafish embryos.

Keywords

cadherin-6, K-cadherin, zebrafish, morpholino, pronephros

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