Roles of maternal wnt8a transcripts in axis formation in zebrafish.

In early zebrafish development, the program for dorsal axis formation begins soon after fertilization. Previous studies suggested that dorsal determinants (DDs) localize to the vegetal pole, and are transported to the dorsal blastomeres in a microtubule-dependent manner. The DDs activate the canonical Wnt pathway and induce dorsal-specific genes that are required for dorsal axis formation. Among wnt-family genes, only the wnt8a mRNA is reported to localize to the vegetal pole in oocytes and to induce the dorsal axis, suggesting that Wnt8a is a candidate DD. Here, to reveal the roles of maternal wnt8a, we generated wnt8a mutants by transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and established zygotic, maternal, and maternal zygotic wnt8a mutants by germ-line replacement. Zebrafish wnt8a has two open reading frames (ORF1 and ORF2) that are tandemly located in the genome. Although the zygotic ORF1 or ORF2 wnt8a mutants showed little or no axis-formation defects, the ORF1/2 compound mutants showed antero-dorsalized phenotypes, indicating that ORF1 and ORF2 have redundant roles in ventrolateral and posterior tissue formation. Unexpectedly, the maternal wnt8a ORF1/2 mutants showed no axis-formation defects. The maternal-zygotic wnt8a ORF1/2 mutants showed more severe antero-dorsalized phenotypes than the zygotic mutants. These results indicated that maternal wnt8a is dispensable for the initial dorsal determination, but cooperates with zygotic wnt8a for ventrolateral and posterior tissue formation. Finally, we re-examined the maternal wnt genes and found that Wnt6a is an alternative candidate DD.

Dynamic microtubules at the vegetal cortex predict the embryonic axis in zebrafish.

In zebrafish, as in many animals, maternal dorsal determinants are vegetally localized in the egg and are transported after fertilization in a microtubule-dependent manner. However, the organization of early microtubules, their dynamics and their contribution to axis formation are not fully understood. Using live imaging, we identified two populations of microtubules, perpendicular bundles and parallel arrays, which are directionally oriented and detected exclusively at the vegetal cortex before the first cell division. Perpendicular bundles emanate from the vegetal cortex, extend towards the blastoderm, and orient along the animal-vegetal axis. Parallel arrays become asymmetric on the vegetal cortex, and orient towards dorsal. We show that the orientation of microtubules at 20 minutes post-fertilization can predict where the embryonic dorsal structures in zebrafish will form. Furthermore, we find that parallel microtubule arrays colocalize with wnt8a RNA, the candidate maternal dorsal factor. Vegetal cytoplasmic granules are displaced with parallel arrays by ~20°, providing in vivo evidence of a cortical rotation-like process in zebrafish. Cortical displacement requires parallel microtubule arrays, and probably contributes to asymmetric transport of maternal determinants. Formation of parallel arrays depends on Ca(2+) signaling. Thus, microtubule polarity and organization predicts the zebrafish embryonic axis. In addition, our results suggest that cortical rotation-like processes might be more common in early development than previously thought.

In vivo imaging of bone collagen dynamics in zebrafish.

Type I collagen plays a pivotal role in shaping bone morphology and determining its physical properties by serving as a template for ossification. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying bone collagen formation, particularly the principles governing its orientation, remain unknown owing to the lack of a method that enables continuous in vivo observations. To address this challenge, we constructed a method to visualize bone collagen by tagging with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in zebrafish and observed the interactions between osteoblasts and collagen fibers during bone formation in vivo. When collagen type I alpha 2 chain (Col1a2)-GFP was expressed under the control of the osteoblast-specific promoters osx or osc in zebrafish, bone collagen was observed clearly enough to identify its localization, whereas collagen from other organs was not. Therefore, we determined that this method was of sufficient quality for the detailed in vivo observation of bone collagen. Next, bone collagen in the scales, fin rays, and opercular bones of zebrafish was observed in detail, when bone formation is more active. High-magnification imaging showed that Col1a2-GFP can visualize collagen sufficiently to analyze the collagen fiber orientation and microstructure of bones. Furthermore, by simultaneously observation of bone collagen and osteoblasts, we successfully observed dynamic changes in the morphology and position of osteoblasts from the early stages of bone formation. It was also found that the localization pattern and orientation of bone collagen significantly differed depending on the choice of the expression promoter. Both promoters (osx and osc) used in this study are osteoblast-specific, but their Col1a2-GFP localizing regions within the bone were exclusive, with osx region localizing mainly to the outer edge of the bone and osc region localizing to the central area of the bone. This suggests the existence of distinct osteoblast subpopulations with different gene expression profiles, each of which may play a unique role in osteogenesis. These findings would contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms governing bone collagen formation by osteoblasts.

Syntaphilin-Mediated Docking of Mitochondria at the Growth Cone Is Dispensable for Axon Elongation In Vivo.

Mitochondria are abundantly detected at the growth cone, the dynamic distal tip of developing axons that directs growth and guidance. It is, however, poorly understood how mitochondrial dynamics relate to growth cone behavior in vivo, and which mechanisms are responsible for anchoring mitochondria at the growth cone during axon pathfinding. Here, we show that in retinal axons elongating along the optic tract in zebrafish, mitochondria accumulate in the central area of the growth cone and are occasionally observed in filopodia extending from the growth cone periphery. Mitochondrial behavior at the growth cone in vivo is dynamic, with mitochondrial positioning and anterograde transport strongly correlating with growth cone behavior and axon outgrowth. Using novel zebrafish mutant lines that lack the mitochondrial anchoring proteins Syntaphilin a and b, we further show that Syntaphilins contribute to mitochondrial immobilization at the growth cone. Syntaphilins are, however, not required for proper growth cone morphology and axon growth in vivo, indicating that Syntaphilin-mediated anchoring of mitochondria at the growth cone plays only a minor role in elongating axons.