| First Author | Odaka YS | Year | 2018 |
| Journal | Sci Rep | Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 14954 |
| PubMed ID | 30297839 | Mgi Jnum | J:310742 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6763839 | Doi | 10.1038/s41598-018-33235-y |
| Citation | Odaka YS, et al. (2018) An Evolutionarily Conserved Mesodermal Enhancer in Vertebrate Zic3. Sci Rep 8(1):14954 |
| abstractText | Zic3 encodes a zinc finger protein essential for the development of meso-ectodermal tissues. In mammals, Zic3 has important roles in the development of neural tube, axial skeletons, left-right body axis, and in maintaining pluripotency of ES cells. Here we characterized cis-regulatory elements required for Zic3 expression. Enhancer activities of human-chicken-conserved noncoding sequences around Zic1 and Zic3 were screened using chick whole-embryo electroporation. We identified enhancers for meso-ectodermal tissues. Among them, a mesodermal enhancer (Zic3-ME) in distant 3' flanking showed robust enhancement of reporter gene expression in the mesodermal tissue of chicken and mouse embryos, and was required for mesodermal Zic3 expression in mice. Zic3-ME minimal core region is included in the DNase hypersensitive region of ES cells, mesoderm, and neural progenitors, and was bound by T (Brachyury), Eomes, Lef1, Nanog, Oct4, and Zic2. Zic3-ME is derived from an ancestral sequence shared with a sequence encoding a mitochondrial enzyme. These results indicate that Zic3-ME is an integrated cis-regulatory element essential for the proper expression of Zic3 in vertebrates, serving as a hub for a gene regulatory network including Zic3. |
