Dynamic Expression of FGF3 Gene during Zebrafish Embryonic Development

Abstract: The current study aimed to study the temporal and spatial expression of FGF3 gene during zebrafish embryonic development. Total RNA was extracted from zebrafish embryos at 2， 4， 8， 12， 24， 36， 48， 72 hours post fertilization (hpf)， respectively， and was reversely transcripted to cDNA. FGF3 mRNA levels were then determined by Real-time quantitative PCR. The results showed that FGF3 gene expression started at as early as 2 hpf， and was present throughout the whole embryonic development. The expression level of FGF3 reached the highest (P<0.01) at 12 hpf. Wholemount in situ hybridization was then used to determine the spatial expression of FGF3 gene at the time points of 8， 12， 24， 36， 48， 72 hpf. Digoxigenin labeled antisense FGF3 RNA probe was synthesized by T7 RNA polymerase from pGEM-T/FGF3 gene fragment recombinant plasmid. Our results showed that FGF3 was mainly expressed in the head， tail and pharyngeal arches of zebrafish embryos during embryonic development. In conclusion， FGF3 gene was expressed in a temporal dynamic pattern during zebrafish embryonic development and reached the highest at about 12 hpf. The spatial expression was mainly in the head， tail and pharyngeal arches， indicating an association of FGF3 with the regulation of embryonic brain， eyes， ears， pharyngeal arches and tail development.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2012.04.0007