RNA-Seq identifies SPGs as a ventral skeletal patterning cue in sea urchins
2016
The
sea urchinlarval skeleton offers a simple model for formation of developmental patterns. The calcium carbonate skeleton is secreted by primary mesenchyme cells (PMCs) in response to largely unknown patterning cues expressed by the
ectoderm. To discover novel
ectodermalcues, we performed an unbiased
RNA-Seq-based screen and functionally tested candidates; we thereby identified several novel skeletal patterning cues. Among these, we show that
SLC26a2/7 is a ventrally expressed
sulfate transporterthat promotes a ventral accumulation of
sulfated
proteoglycans, which is required for ventral PMC positioning and skeletal patterning. We show that the effects of SLC perturbation are mimicked by manipulation of either external
sulfatelevels or
proteoglycan
sulfation. These results identify novel skeletal patterning genes and demonstrate that ventral
proteoglycan
sulfationserves as a positional cue for
sea urchinskeletal patterning.
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