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Hau-Pax6A expression in the central nervous system of the leech embryo

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Abstract

The leech Helobdella sp. (Austin) has two genes of the Pax6 subfamily, one of which is characterized in detail. Hau-Pax6A was expressed during embryonic development in a pattern similar to other bilaterian animals. RNA was detected in cellular precursors of the central nervous system (CNS) and in peripheral cells including a population associated with the developing eye. The CNS of the mature leech is a ventral nerve cord composed of segmental ganglia, and embryonic Hau-Pax6A expression was primarily localized to the N teloblast lineage that generates the majority of ganglionic neurons. Expression began when the ganglion primordia were four cells in length and was initially restricted to a single cell, ns.a, whose descendants will form the ganglion’s anterior edge. At later stages, the Hau-Pax6A expression pattern expanded to include additional CNS precursors, including some descendants of the O teloblast. Expression persisted through the early stages of ganglion morphogenesis but disappeared from the segmented body trunk at the time of neuronal differentiation. The timing and iterated pattern of Hau-Pax6A expression in the leech embryo suggests that this gene may play a role in the segmental patterning of CNS morphogenesis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSF grant IBN-0415732 and funds from the University of Texas Austin Vice President of Research. The authors thank Kristina Schlegel for her artistic help with the illustrations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Ian K. Quigley, Xuanhua Xie & Marty Shankland

  2. Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Ian K. Quigley, Xuanhua Xie & Marty Shankland

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  1. Ian K. Quigley
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  2. Xuanhua Xie
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  3. Marty Shankland
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Correspondence to Marty Shankland.

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Communicated by M.Q. Martindale

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Quigley, I.K., Xie, X. & Shankland, M. Hau-Pax6A expression in the central nervous system of the leech embryo. Dev Genes Evol 217, 459–468 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-007-0156-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-007-0156-1

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