Embryology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Embryology, including details on stem cells, reproduction, transplants, cloning.

Molecular cloning and early expression of chick embryo SCO-spondin.

Didier R, Meiniel O, Meiniel A

INSERM U384, 28 Place Henri Dunant, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France, Annie.MEINIEL@inserm.u-clermont1.fr.

SCO-spondin is a multidomain glycoprotein secreted by the subcommissural organ (SCO). It belongs to the thrombospondin type 1 repeat superfamily and has been identified in several vertebrate species. We report the cloning of the chick SCO-spondin ortholog and examine its temporal and spatial expression during early embryogenesis from Hamburger and Hamilton (HH) stage 12 to HH stage 21. Chick SCO-spondin cDNA contains a long open reading frame encoding a predicted protein of 5255 amino acids. Northern blot analysis has revealed SCO-spondin mRNA as a band of about 15 kb. Many conserved domains have been identified, including 27 thrombospondin type 1 repeats, 13 low-density lipoprotein receptor type A domains, one EMI domain (a cysteine-rich domain of extracellular proteins), three von Willebrand factor type D domains, and one cystine knot C-terminal domain. Whole-mount in situ hybridization enabled the first signal of mRNA expression to be detected at HH stage 17, exclusively in a thin area of the prosencephalon roof plate. During the following stages of development, SCO-spondin expression remained restricted to this region. The multidomain structure of SCO-spondin and its early expression suggest that it plays a role in developmental processes in the central nervous system.

Published 28 November 2006 in Cell Tissue Res, 327(1): 111-9.
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