Orthopedia transcription factor otpa and otpb paralogous genes function during dopaminergic and neuroendocrine cell specification in larval zebrafish
20.09.2013
Fernandes AM, Beddows E, Filippi A, Driever W
PLoS One. 2013 Sep 20;8(9):e75002
The transcription factor Orthopedia (Otp) is an important regulator for subsets of dopaminergic neurons and neuroendocrine cells. We characterized zebrafish embryos mutant for the two paralogous otp genes otpa, otpb. otpa mutant larvae show strong reduction of ventral diencephalic dopaminergic neurons. In otpa and otpb double mutant larvae specific groups of dopaminergic neurons as well as of crh, oxt, avp, trh and sst1.1-expressing neuroendocrine cells are completely lost. In addition, we identified a role of Otp in the development of a domain of somatostatin1-expressing cells in the rostral hindbrain, a region with strong otp expression but so far uncharacterized Otp function.
