Y Sasakura

..We report here that a new member of the ascidian Wnt gene family, HrWnt-7, was expressed in the tail neural tube at the early tailbud stage. Moreover, in cross-section, HrWnt-7 was expressed in the dorsal and ventral ependymal cells...

..From these tests, we concluded that Minos transposase has complete activity when it is expressed in C. intestinalis, suggesting that Minos has the potential to be used for genome-wide insertional mutagenesis of C. intestinalis...

..These findings, especially the identification of the small localization element of HrWnt-5 mRNA, provide new insights into the localization of mRNAs during ascidian embryogenesis...

..These results suggest that HrWnt-5 regulates the morphogenetic movement of notochord cells during ascidian embryogenesis...

..These results indicate that HrHNF-6 functions in the differentiation and regional specification of neural cells during ascidian embryogenesis...

..9% of the clones were exclusively maternal, while 40.6% of the maternal clones showed expression in the later stages. This study provides global insights about the genes expressed during early development...

..The sequence information will also be used for further genome scientific approach to explore molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of one of the most primitive chordate body plans...

..Ascidian musashi had three domains of zygotic expression: the brain, nerve cord, and mesenchyma. The temporal order of the onset in these domains was highly divergent between the two species of ascidian examined...

..This technique allowed us to isolate transgenic lines that express GFP in restricted tissues. This system provides an easy and efficient method for large-scale enhancer detection in Ciona intestinalis...

..A Tc1/mariner superfamily transposon, Minos, has excision and transposition activities in Ciona. Minos enables the creation of stable transgenic lines, enhancer detection, and insertional mutagenesis...

..This high-throughput enhancer trap screen will be useful to create new marker transgenic lines showing reporter gene expression in specific tissues and to identify novel patterns of gene expression...

..It is likely that ascidian cellulose synthase is required for the coordination of the metamorphic events in the trunk and tail in addition to cellulose biosynthesis...

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..These results clearly demonstrate that an enhancer trap event that entrapped enhancers of Ci-Musashi occurred in C. intestinalis...

..In addition, one insertion seemed to have caused an enhancer trapping. These results indicate that Minos provides a potential tool for transgenic techniques such as insertional mutagenesis in Ciona savignyi...

..In addition, an enhancer-trap line was obtained. This is a demonstration of efficient, Minos-mediated transgenesis in marine invertebrates...

..Ciona intestinalis, therefore, may provide refined clues for the study of vertebrate development and evolution...

..In vertebrates these ancestral cell junctions appear to have evolved into more diverse, and possibly more complex, forms, compared with those in their urochordate siblings...

..The ascidian genome has also acquired a number of lineage-specific innovations, including a group of genes engaged in cellulose metabolism that are related to those in bacteria and fungi...

..The gene set identified in the present analysis provides an insight into genes for the RTK, MAPK and Notch signaling pathways in the ancient chordate genome and thereby how chordates evolved these signaling pathway...

..This release is ready for use in cDNA cloning, micro/macroarray analysis, and other comprehensive genome-wide analyses for further molecular studies of basal chordates...

..Because these systems make it easier to rear Ciona intestinalis in laboratories, they increase the potentialities of this model organism for research...

..Finally, we propose a speculative model integrating recent data, and we also discuss the relationship between postplasmic/PEM RNAs, posterior specification, and germ cell formation in ascidians...

..This review specifically addresses recent achievements of transformation techniques in Ciona, as exemplified using the Minos system...

..Our data showed that DNA synthesis in the larval trunk is not directly associated with the organization of adult organs, but it contributes to the speed of metamorphosis after settlement...

..Our results indicate that the amphioxus genome is elemental to an understanding of the biology and evolution of nonchordate deuterostomes, invertebrate chordates, and vertebrates...