AI Article Synopsis
- Amphioxus is identified as the closest living relative to vertebrates, and researchers aimed to explore its early embryonic development through a cDNA library.
- A total of 5,235 expressed sequenced tags (ESTs) were generated, revealing around 2,493 unique genes, with significant portions remaining unmatched to known sequences.
- The study highlights the presence of homologous genes linked to neural development and human diseases, supporting the idea that certain vertebrate-specific genes also exist in the amphioxus genome, aiding in our understanding of vertebrate evolution.
Article Abstract
Amphioxus, a cephalochordate, is the closest living relative to the vertebrates. In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the early embryogenesis of amphioxus, we constructed a neurula embryo cDNA library of Chinese amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense) and generated 5235 expressed sequenced tags in the present study. The initial ESTs consisted of 638 clusters and 1855 singletons, which revealed approximately 2493 unique genes in the data set. Of these sequences, 35.52% ESTs matched to known genes, 12.76% matched to other ESTs, and 51.71% had no match to any known sequences in GenBank. Interestingly we found homologous genes related to neural development and human disease. Bioinformatic analysis showed the direct evidence that the gene homologue found only in vertebrates in previous studies also exists in the amphioxus genome. This study provides a preliminary view of the gene information involved in the development of neurula embryos of Chinese amphioxus and helps our understanding of vertebrate evolution at gene level.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0006-291x(02)02582-2 | DOI Listing |
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