Functional and hierarchical interactions among zebrafish vox/vent homeobox genes.

The vertebrate Vox/Vent family of transcription factors plays a crucial role in the establishment of the dorsoventral (DV) axis, by repressing organizer genes such as bozozok/dharma, goosecoid, and chordino. In Danio rerio (zebrafish), members of the vox/vent gene family (vox/vega1, vent/vega2, and ved) are thought to share expression patterns and functional properties. Bringing novel insights in the differential activity of the zebrafish vox/vent genes, we propose a critical role for the ved gene in DV patterning of vertebrate embryos. ved is not only expressed as a maternal gene, but it also appears to function as a repressor of dorsal factors involved in organizer formation. At early- and mid-gastrula stage, ved appears to be finely controlled by antagonist crosstalks in a complex regulatory network, involving gradients of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) activity, dorsal factors, and vox/vent family members. We show that ved transcripts are ventrally restricted by BMP factors such as bmp2b, bmp7, smad5, and alk8, and by dorsal factors (chd and gsc). Alteration of ved expression in both vox and vent deletion mutants and vox and vent mRNAs-injected embryos, suggests that vox and vent function downstream of BMP signaling to negatively regulate ved expression. This inhibitory role is emphasized by a vox and vent redundant activity, compared with single gene effects.

Gilardelli CN ，Pozzoli O ，Sordino P ，Matassi G ，Cotelli F ... -  《DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS》

Patterning the early zebrafish by the opposing actions of bozozok and vox/vent.

Melby AE ，Beach C ，Mullins M ，Kimelman D ... -  《DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY》

WNT8 and BMP2B co-regulate non-axial mesoderm patterning during zebrafish gastrulation.

Ramel MC ，Buckles GR ，Baker KD ，Lekven AC ... -  《DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY》

Zebrafish eve1 regulates the lateral and ventral fates of mesodermal progenitor cells at the onset of gastrulation.

Zebrafish eve1, a member of the even-skipped related gene family, is expressed initially in the animal pole of late blastula embryo and subsequently restricted to the ventral mesoderm of the gastrula embryo under the signaling control of bone morphogenetic protein (Bmp). Overexpression of eve1 in embryos results in similar ventralized phenotypes to that seen in embryos overexpressing Bmp, suggesting that Eve1 acts downstream of the Bmp signaling pathway to regulate the fate of mesodermal progenitor cells (MPCs). How eve1 functions in the normal development of MPCs is unknown. Using overexpression of a chimeric protein of Eve1 fused to the Gal4 activation domain and gene-knockdown approaches, we investigated the role of eve1 in MPC development of zebrafish embryos at early gastrulation. We find that Eve1 functions as a transcriptional repressor and is required for normal MPC development. The role of eve1 in MPCs requires the redundant and cooperative functions of Bmp-activated downstream homeobox genes, ved, vent and vox. Inhibition of eve1, ved, vent and vox in double and triple combinations results in dorsalized phenotypes. Furthermore, specific inhibition of eve1 and ved causes the expression of an ectopic patch of the brachyury ortholog no tail and leads to the formation of an ectopic tail. Our data show that Eve1 functions together with Ved, Vent and Vox in a transcriptional network to prevent the spread of anti-Bmp gene activity from the dorsal side, leading to the establishment of the Bmp gradient activity along the dorsoventral axis to induce distinct transcriptional outputs in MPCs to maintain the lateral and ventral MPC fates during gastrulation.

Seebald JL ，Szeto DP 《-》

A novel repressor-type homeobox gene, ved, is involved in dharma/bozozok-mediated dorsal organizer formation in zebrafish.

Shimizu T ，Yamanaka Y ，Nojima H ，Yabe T ，Hibi M ，Hirano T ... -  《MECHANISMS OF DEVELOPMENT》