Intercepting the Banert cascade with nucleophilic fluorine: direct access to α-fluorinated NH-1,2,3-triazoles.

The treatment of propargylic azides with silver(i) fluoride in acetonitrile was found to yield α-fluorinated NH-1,2,3-triazoles via the Banert cascade. The reaction was regioselective and the products result from an initial [3,3] rearrangement. The reaction is demonstrated on >15 examples with yields ranging from 37% to 86%.

The zebrafish glypican knypek controls cell polarity during gastrulation movements of convergent extension.

Mutations in the zebrafish knypek locus impair gastrulation movements of convergent extension that narrow embryonic body and elongate it from head to tail. We demonstrate that knypek regulates cellular movements but not cell fate specification. Convergent extension movement defects in knypek are associated with abnormal cell polarity, as mutant cells fail to elongate and align medio-laterally. Positional cloning reveals that knypek encodes a member of the glypican family of heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Double mutant and overexpression analyses show that Knypek potentiates Wnt11 signaling, mediating convergent extension. These studies provide experimental and genetic evidence that glypican Knypek acts during vertebrate gastrulation as a positive modulator of noncanonical Wnt signaling to establish polarized cell behaviors underlying convergent extension movements.

Sequence and expression of zebrafish foxc1a and foxc1b, encoding conserved forkhead/winged helix transcription factors.

Mouse Foxc1 (previously Mf1) is a member of the conserved forkhead/winged helix transcription factor gene family. It is expressed in many mesodermal tissues including paraxial mesoderm of the trunk and head, prechondrogenic mesenchyme, branchial arches and developing kidney. Homozygous mutants die perinatally with hydrocephalus and skeletal, cardiovascular, ocular and genitourinary defects. Here, we report the cloning and expression of two zebrafish foxc1 homologues, foxc1a and foxc1b. During gastrulation and somitogenesis both genes have similar expression patterns in the hypoblast, paraxial and presomitic mesoderm, somites and trunk adaxial cells. Expression in the somites is downregulated as they differentiate, but is maintained in the sclerotome. Later, some differences in expression pattern emerge. For example, only foxc1a transcripts are detected in the pronephros primodia and in the head mesoderm around the eyes, while only foxc1b is expressed in the pharyngeal arches and pectoral fins. Early expression of foxc1a in the paraxial mesoderm is modified in chordino, swirl, somitabun, and spadetail mutants.

Genotyping of Bison bonasus kappa-casein gene following DNA sequence amplification.

DNA isolated from 30 Bison bonasus blood samples was used for amplification of a kappa-casein gene fragment to detect possible polymorphism. Bovine kappa-caseins exist in A, B and E variants. In the European bison from Poland, we have found only BB genotypes. Sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction product revealed further polymorphisms typical for B. bonasus.

Cloning and characterization of the Aspergillus nidulans cysB gene encoding cysteine synthase.

The cysB gene of A. nidulans was cloned by complementation of a cysB mutation. This is the first cloned eukaryotic genomic sequence coding for cysteine synthase. The gene contains one 71-bp intron and codes for a protein of 370 amino acids. Its N-terminal region has characteristic features of transit peptides, suggesting mitochondrial localisation of the enzyme. The protein shows homology with bacterial and plant cysteine synthases among which it occupies a remote phylogenetic position and apparently represents a distinct subfamily. Transcription of the cysB gene is not appreciably regulated by the concentration of methionine in the growth medium.

Structure and regulation of cysD, the homocysteine synthase gene of Aspergillus nidulans.

The A. nidulans cysD gene encoding homocysteine synthase (O-acetyl-L-homoserine sulphydrylase) has been isolated by functional complementation of a cysD11 mutation. The gene contains five short introns and codes for a protein of 437 amino acids. The protein shows homology with bacterial and yeast O-acetyl- and O-succinyl-homoserine sulphydrylases, particularly from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis. The cysD cDNA is able to complement a S. cerevisiae mutation impairing homocysteine synthase. Synthesis of the cysD mRNA is down-regulated by a high concentration of methionine in growth medium without sulphate and up-regulated under sulphur limitation. A comparison of cysD genomic and cDNA copies, derived from different A. nidulans strains, revealed a marked DNA-sequence polymorphism manifested mostly by silent point mutations. There was, however, much less polymorphism in the protein sequence.

Role of the zebrafish trilobite locus in gastrulation movements of convergence and extension.

Convergence and extension are gastrulation movements that participate in the establishment of the vertebrate body plan. Using new methods for quantifying convergence and extension movements of cell groups, we demonstrate that in wild-type embryos, dorsal convergence of lateral cells is initially slow, but speeds up between the end of the gastrula period and early segmentation. Convergence and extension movements of lateral cells in trilobite mutants are normal during the gastrula period but reduced by early segmentation. Morphometric studies revealed that during epiboly wild-type gastrulae become ovoid, whereas trilobite embryos remain rounder. By segmentation, trilobite embryos exhibit shorter, broader embryonic axes. The timing of these morphological defects correlates well with impaired cell movements, suggesting reduced convergence and extension are the main defects underlying the trilobite phenotype. Our gene expression, genetic, and fate mapping analyses show the trilobite mutation affects movements without altering dorsoventral patterning or cell fates. We propose that trilobite function is required for cell properties that promote increased speed of converging cells and extension movements in the dorsal regions of the zebrafish gastrula.

The winged helix transcription factor Foxc1a is essential for somitogenesis in zebrafish.

Previous studies identified zebrafish foxc1a and foxc1b as homologs of the mouse forkhead gene, Foxc1. Both genes are transcribed in the unsegmented presomitic mesoderm (PSM), newly formed somites, adaxial cells, and head mesoderm. Here, we show that inhibiting synthesis of Foxc1a (but not Foxc1b) protein with two different morpholino antisense oligonucleotides blocks formation of morphological somites, segment boundaries, and segmented expression of genes normally transcribed in anterior and posterior somites and expression of paraxis implicated in somite epithelialization. Patterning of the anterior PSM is also affected, as judged by the absence of mesp-b, ephrinB2, and ephA4 expression, and the down-regulation of notch5 and notch6. In contrast, the expression of other genes, including mesp-a and papc, in the anterior of somite primordia, and the oscillating expression of deltaC and deltaD in the PSM appear normal. Nevertheless, this expression is apparently insufficient for the maturation of the presumptive somites to proceed to the stage when boundary formation occurs or for the maintenance of anterior/posterior patterning. Mouse embryos that are compound null mutants for Foxc1 and the closely related Foxc2 have no morphological somites and show abnormal expression of Notch signaling pathway genes in the anterior PSM. Therefore, zebrafish foxc1a plays an essential and conserved role in somite formation, regulating both the expression of paraxis and the A/P patterning of somite primordia.

Several mutations including two novel mutations of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene in Polish G6PD deficient subjects with chronic nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia, acute hemolytic anemia, and favism.

DNA sequencing revealed seven different glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) mutations in G6PD deficient subjects from 10 Polish families. Among them we found two novel mutations: 679C-->T (G6PD Radlowo, class 2) and a 1006A-->G (G6PD Torun, class 1). Variant G6PD Radlowo was characterized biochemically. Both novel mutations were analyzed using a model of the tertiary structure of the human enzyme. The main chain of G6PD Torun is different from the wild-type G6PD. The remaining mutations identified by us in deficient Polish patients were: 542A-->T (G6PD Malaga), 1160G-->A (G6PD Beverly Hills), 1178G-->A (G6PD Nashville), 1192G-->A (G6PD Puerto Limon), and 1246G-->A (G6PD Tokyo). Variant Tokyo was found in four families. In one of them favism was the first clinical sign of G6PD deficiency and chronic nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia (CNSHA) was diagnosed later. Variants G6PD Nashville and G6PD Puerto Limon were accompanied by the silent mutation 1311C-->T of the G6PD gene.

Head and trunk in zebrafish arise via coinhibition of BMP signaling by bozozok and chordino.

Spatial variations in the levels of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling are a critical determinant of dorsoanterior-ventroposterior pattern in vertebrate embryos. Whereas BMP overexpression abolishes both head and trunk development, known single and double loss-of-function mutations in BMP inhibitors have less dramatic effects. We report that combining mutations in the zebrafish genes bozozok and chordino causes a synergistic loss of head and trunk, whereas most cells express ventro-posterior markers and develop into a tail. Genetic inactivation of BMP signaling fully suppresses these defects. Thus, a remarkably simple genetic mechanism, involving a coinhibition of BMP function by the partially overlapping bozozok and chordino pathways is used to specify vertebrate head and trunk.

The zebrafish bozozok locus encodes Dharma, a homeodomain protein essential for induction of gastrula organizer and dorsoanterior embryonic structures.

The dorsal gastrula organizer plays a fundamental role in establishment of the vertebrate axis. We demonstrate that the zebrafish bozozok (boz) locus is required at the blastula stages for formation of the embryonic shield, the equivalent of the gastrula organizer and expression of multiple organizer-specific genes. Furthermore, boz is essential for specification of dorsoanterior embryonic structures, including notochord, prechordal mesendoderm, floor plate and forebrain. We report that boz mutations disrupt the homeobox gene dharma. Overexpression of boz in the extraembryonic yolk syncytial layer of boz mutant embryos is sufficient for normal development of the overlying blastoderm, revealing an involvement of extraembryonic structures in anterior patterning in fish similarly to murine embryos. Epistatic analyses indicate that boz acts downstream of beta-catenin and upstream to TGF-beta signaling or in a parallel pathway. These studies provide genetic evidence for an essential function of a homeodomain protein in beta-catenin-mediated induction of the dorsal gastrula organizer and place boz at the top of a hierarchy of zygotic genes specifying the dorsal midline of a vertebrate embryo.