TBid mediated activation of the mitochondrial death pathway leads to genetic ablation of the lens in Xenopus laevis

Xenopus is a well proven model for a wide variety of developmental studies, including cell lineage. Cell lineage in Xenopus has largely been addressed by injection of tracer molecules or by micro‐dissection elimination of blastomeres. Here we describe a genetic method for cell ablation based on the use of tBid, a direct activator of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. In mammalian cells, cross‐talk between the main apoptotic pathways (the mitochondrial and the death domain protein pathways) involve the pro‐death protein BID, the active form of which, tBID, results from protease truncation and translocation to mitochondria. In transgenic Xenopus, restricting tBID expression to the lens‐forming cells enables the specific ablation of the lens without affecting the development of other eye structures. Thus, overexpression of tBid can be used in vivo as a tool to eliminate a defined cell population by apoptosis in a developing organism and to evaluate the degree of autonomy or the inductive effects of a specific tissue during embryonic development. genesis 45:1–10, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

[1]  Gregory F Weber,et al.  The Canonical Intrinsic Mitochondrial Death Pathway Has a Non-apoptotic Role in Signaling Lens Cell Differentiation* , 2005, Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[2]  F. Lovicu,et al.  Growth factor regulation of lens development. , 2005, Developmental biology.

[3]  J. Foley,et al.  Temporal Regulation of VEID-7-amino-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin Cleavage Activity and Caspase-6 Correlates with Organelle Loss during Lens Development* , 2004, Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[4]  K. Arai,et al.  Suppression of lens growth by alphaA-crystallin promoter-driven expression of diphtheria toxin results in disruption of retinal cell organization in zebrafish. , 2003, Developmental biology.

[5]  M. Degli Esposti,et al.  The roles of Bid , 2002, Apoptosis.

[6]  S. Krajewski,et al.  Calpain and Mitochondria in Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury* , 2002, The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[7]  S. Srinivasula,et al.  Caspase-2 Induces Apoptosis by Releasing Proapoptotic Proteins from Mitochondria* , 2002, The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[8]  W. Jeffery,et al.  Evidence for multiple genetic forms with similar eyeless phenotypes in the blind cavefish, Astyanax mexicanus. , 2002, Molecular biology and evolution.

[9]  B. Demeneix,et al.  Xenopus Bcl-XL selectively protects Rohon-Beard neurons from metamorphic degeneration , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[10]  R. Axel,et al.  Genetic Ablation and Restoration of the Olfactory Topographic Map , 2000, Cell.

[11]  W. Jeffery,et al.  Central role for the lens in cave fish eye degeneration. , 2000, Science.

[12]  D. Green,et al.  Granzyme B Short-Circuits the Need for Caspase 8 Activity during Granule-Mediated Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Killing by Directly Cleaving Bid , 2000, Molecular and Cellular Biology.

[13]  R. Grainger,et al.  The development of Xenopus tropicalis transgenic lines and their use in studying lens developmental timing in living embryos. , 2000, Development.

[14]  D. Beebe,et al.  The lens organizes the anterior segment: specification of neural crest cell differentiation in the avian eye. , 2000, Developmental biology.

[15]  T. Jessell,et al.  Genetic ablation reveals that the roof plate is essential for dorsal interneuron specification , 2000, Nature.

[16]  M. Tsai,et al.  Targeted ablation of secretin-producing cells in transgenic mice reveals a common differentiation pathway with multiple enteroendocrine cell lineages in the small intestine. , 1999, Development.

[17]  E. Sanders,et al.  Members of the bcl-2 and caspase families regulate nuclear degeneration during chick lens fibre differentiation. , 1999, Developmental biology.

[18]  K. Tan,et al.  A Novel BH3-like Domain in BID Is Required for Intramolecular Interaction and Autoinhibition of Pro-apoptotic Activity* , 1999, The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[19]  P. Tam,et al.  Impact of node ablation on the morphogenesis of the body axis and the lateral asymmetry of the mouse embryo during early organogenesis. , 1999, Developmental biology.

[20]  R. Baron,et al.  Dissociation between bone resorption and bone formation in osteopenic transgenic mice. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  P. Overbeek,et al.  Disregulation of ocular morphogenesis by lens-specific expression of FGF-3/int-2 in transgenic mice. , 1998, Developmental biology.

[22]  R. Oppenheim,et al.  Muscle-specific cell ablation conditional upon Cre-mediated DNA recombination in transgenic mice leads to massive spinal and cranial motoneuron loss. , 1998, Developmental biology.

[23]  J. Gautier,et al.  A developmental timer that regulates apoptosis at the onset of gastrulation , 1997, Mechanisms of Development.

[24]  John Calvin Reed,et al.  Apoptosis in Xenopus tadpole tail muscles involves Bax‐dependent pathways , 1997, FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

[25]  M. Kozak,et al.  Recognition of AUG and alternative initiator codons is augmented by G in position +4 but is not generally affected by the nucleotides in positions +5 and +6 , 1997, The EMBO journal.

[26]  C. Milliman,et al.  BID: a novel BH3 domain-only death agonist. , 1996, Genes & development.

[27]  K. Kroll,et al.  Transgenic Xenopus embryos from sperm nuclear transplantations reveal FGF signaling requirements during gastrulation. , 1996, Development.

[28]  R. Hill,et al.  Multiple functions for Pax6 in mouse eye and nasal development. , 1996, Genes & development.

[29]  J. Gurdon,et al.  Normal table of Xenopus laevis (Daudin) , 1995 .

[30]  R. Flavell,et al.  The relationship of IL-4- and IFNγ-producing T cells studied by lineage ablation of IL-4-producing cells , 1993, Cell.

[31]  L. Sachs,et al.  Thyroid hormone-dependent transcriptional regulation of exogenous genes transferred into Xenopus tadpole muscle in vivo. , 1993, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[32]  M. Breitman,et al.  Embryology and morphology of microphthalmia in transgenic mice expressing a gamma F-crystallin/diphtheria toxin A hybrid gene. , 1992, Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology.

[33]  C. Jones,et al.  The herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase is expressed in the testes of transgenic mice under the control of a cryptic promoter , 1991, Molecular and cellular biology.

[34]  R. Braun,et al.  Infertility in male transgenic mice: disruption of sperm development by HSV-tk expression in postmeiotic germ cells. , 1990, Biology of reproduction.

[35]  I. Maxwell,et al.  Genetic ablation in transgenic mice with an attenuated diphtheria toxin A gene , 1990, Molecular and cellular biology.

[36]  L. Tsui,et al.  Analysis of lens cell fate and eye morphogenesis in transgenic mice ablated for cells of the lens lineage. , 1989, Development.

[37]  C. Jones,et al.  A Mup promoter-thymidine kinase reporter gene shows relaxed tissue-specific expression and confers male sterility upon transgenic mice , 1988, Molecular and cellular biology.

[38]  G. Evans,et al.  Lens-specific expression of recombinant ricin induces developmental defects in the eyes of transgenic mice. , 1988, Genes & development.

[39]  T. Imamichi,et al.  [Improvement of the vomeronasal organ ablation in the rat]. , 1988, Jikken dobutsu. Experimental animals.

[40]  L. Tsui,et al.  Genetic ablation: targeted expression of a toxin gene causes microphthalmia in transgenic mice. , 1987, Science.

[41]  R. Grainger,et al.  Inductive interactions in the spatial and temporal restriction of lens-forming potential in embryonic ectoderm of Xenopus laevis. , 1987, Developmental biology.

[42]  R. Palmiter,et al.  Somatic expression of herpes thymidine kinase in mice following injection of a fusion gene into eggs , 1981, Cell.

[43]  J Kimble,et al.  Alterations in cell lineage following laser ablation of cells in the somatic gonad of Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1981, Developmental biology.

[44]  S. Moody,et al.  Cell lineage analysis in Xenopus embryos. , 2000, Methods in molecular biology.

[45]  P. Overbeek,et al.  Inhibition of cell death by lens-specific overexpression of bcl-2 in transgenic mice. , 1997, Developmental genetics.

[46]  Juliette Gardner Genesis , 1985 .