Cngsc, a homologue of goosecoid, participates in the patterning of the head, and is expressed in the organizer region of Hydra.

We have isolated Cngsc, a hydra homologue of goosecoid gene. The homeodomain of Cngsc is identical to the vertebrate (65-72%) and Drosophila (70%) orthologues. When injected into the ventral side of an early Xenopus embryo, Cngsc induces a partial secondary axis. During head formation, Cngsc expression appears prior to, and directly above, the zone where the tentacles will emerge, but is not observed nearby when the single apical tentacle is formed. This observation indicates that the expression of the gene is not necessary for the formation of a tentacle per se. Rather, it may be involved in defining the border between the hypostome and the tentacle zone. When Cngsc(+) tip of an early bud is grafted into the body column, it induces a secondary axis, while the adjacent Cngsc(-) region has much weaker inductive capacities. Thus, Cngsc is expressed in a tissue that acts as an organizer. Cngsc is also expressed in the sensory neurons of the tip of the hypostome and in the epithelial endodermal cells of the upper part of the body column. The plausible roles of Cngsc in organizer function, head formation and anterior neuron differentiation are similar to roles goosecoid plays in vertebrates and Drosophila. It suggests widespread evolutionary conservation of the function of the gene.

[1]  A. Nose,et al.  The role of the msh homeobox gene during Drosophila neurogenesis: implication for the dorsoventral specification of the neuroectoderm. , 1997, Development.

[2]  A. Gierer,et al.  Cell cycle kinetics and development of Hydra attenuata. III. Nerve and nematocyte differentiation. , 1974, Journal of cell science.

[3]  M. Frohman.  [42] – Rapid Amplification of Complementary DNA Ends for Generation of Full-Length Complementary DNAs: Thermal RACE , 1995 .

[4]  P. Sacks,et al.  Production of nerveless Hydra attenuata by hydroxyurea treatments. , 1979, Journal of cell science.

[5]  P. S. St. John,et al.  Cloning and biological function of laminin in Hydra vulgaris. , 1994, Developmental biology.

[6]  C. Desplan,et al.  Cooperative dimerization of paired class homeo domains on DNA. , 1993, Genes & development.

[7]  H. Bode,et al.  Expression of Cnox-2, a HOM/HOX gene, is suppressed during head formation in hydra. , 1993, Developmental biology.

[8]  L. Wolpert,et al.  Studies on pattern regulation in hydra. I. Regional differences in time required for hypostome determination. , 1966, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[9]  H. Macwilliams.  Hydra transplantation phenomena and the mechanism of Hydra head regeneration: II. Properties of the head activation , 1983 .

[10]  K. Struhl,et al.  The gradient morphogen bicoid is a concentration-dependent transcriptional activator , 1989, Cell.

[11]  D. Grunwald,et al.  Lithium perturbation and goosecoid expression identify a dorsal specification pathway in the pregastrula zebrafish. , 1993, Development.

[12]  H. Meinhardt,et al.  Applications of a theory of biological pattern formation based on lateral inhibition. , 1974, Journal of cell science.

[13]  R. D. Campbell,et al.  Budding in Hydra attenuata: bud stages and fate map. , 1977, The Journal of experimental zoology.

[14]  M. Noll,et al.  Structure of the segmentation gene paired and the Drosophila PRD gene set as part of a gene network , 1986, Cell.

[15]  R. Durbin,et al.  2.2 Mb of contiguous nucleotide sequence from chromosome III of C. elegans , 1994, Nature.

[16]  Ken W. Y. Cho,et al.  Interaction of goosecoid and brachyury in Xenopus mesoderm patterning , 1997, Mechanisms of Development.

[17]  H. Bode,et al.  Budhead, a fork head/HNF-3 homologue, is expressed during axis formation and head specification in hydra. , 1997, Developmental biology.

[18]  T. Yao.  Studies on the Organizer Problem in Pelmatohydra Oligactis : I. The Induction Potency of the Implants and the Nature of the Induced Hydranth , 1945 .

[19]  A. Burnett,et al.  THE ROLE OF INTERSTITIAL CELLS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF HYDRA. II. BUDDING. , 1965, The Journal of experimental zoology.

[20]  H. Bode,et al.  CnNK-2, an NK-2 homeobox gene, has a role in patterning the basal end of the axis in hydra. , 1996, Developmental biology.

[21]  R. D. Campbell.  Tissue dynamics of steady state growth in Hydra littoralis. II. Patterns of tissue movement , 1967, Journal of morphology.

[22]  H. Bode,et al.  Development of the two-part pattern during regeneration of the head in hydra. , 1988, Development.

[23]  H. Bode,et al.  Plasticity in the nervous system of adult hydra. II. Conversion of ganglion cells of the body column into epidermal sensory cells of the hypostome. , 1988, Developmental biology.

[24]  B. Schierwater,et al.  Over one-half billion years of head conservation? Expression of an ems class gene in Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  A. Goriely,et al.  A functional homologue of goosecoid in Drosophila. , 1996, Development.

[26]  U. Truyen,et al.  A simple touch-down polymerase chain reaction for the detection of canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia virus in feces. , 1995, Journal of virological methods.

[27]  T. Holstein,et al.  Head formation in Hydra is different at apical and basal levels , 1995 .

[28]  M. Kirschner,et al.  A major developmental transition in early xenopus embryos: I. characterization and timing of cellular changes at the midblastula stage , 1982, Cell.

[29]  H. Bode,et al.  CnOtx, a member of the Otx gene family, has a role in cell movement in hydra. , 1999, Developmental biology.

[30]  E. D. De Robertis,et al.  Expression of the mouse goosecoid gene during mid-embryogenesis may mark mesenchymal cell lineages in the developing head, limbs and body wall. , 1993, Development.

[31]  E. Robertis,et al.  The homeobox gene goosecoid and the origin of organizer cells in the early chick blastoderm , 1993, Cell.

[32]  H. Li,et al.  Studies on the Organizer Problem in Pelmatohydra Oligactis : III. Bud Induction by Developing Hypostome , 1945 .

[33]  H. Bode,et al.  HyBra1, a Brachyury homologue, acts during head formation in Hydra. , 1999, Development.

[34]  M. Kessel,et al.  Segregating expression domains of two goosecoid genes during the transition from gastrulation to neurulation in chick embryos. , 1997, Development.

[35]  B. Roe,et al.  A region of mouse chromosome 16 is syntenic to the DiGeorge, velocardiofacial syndrome minimal critical region. , 1997, Genome research.

[36]  Ethel Nicholson Browne,et al.  The production of new hydranths in Hydra by the insertion of small grafts , 1909 .

[37]  H. Bode,et al.  Regulation of interstitial cell differentiation in Hydra attenuata. I. Homeostatic control of interstitial cell population size. , 1976, Journal of cell science.

[38]  Ken W. Y. Cho,et al.  The homeobox gene goosecoid controls cell migration in Xenopus embryos , 1993, Cell.

[39]  G. Webster.  Studies on pattern regulation in hydra. II. Factors controlling hypostome formation. , 1966, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[40]  Y. Sasai,et al.  A novel homeobox gene, dharma, can induce the organizer in a non-cell-autonomous manner. , 1998, Genes & development.

[41]  W. Müller.  Diacylglycerol-induced multihead formation in Hydra , 1989 .

[42]  B. Blumberg,et al.  Organizer-specific homeobox genes in Xenopus laevis embryos. , 1991, Science.

[43]  H. Macwilliams.  Hydra transplantation phenomena and the mechanism of Hydra head regeneration. II. Properties of the head activation. , 1983, Developmental biology.

[44]  H. Bode,et al.  Expression of Cnox-2, a HOM/HOX homeobox gene in hydra, is correlated with axial pattern formation. , 1993, Development.

[45]  R. Behringer,et al.  Goosecoid and HNF-3beta genetically interact to regulate neural tube patterning during mouse embryogenesis. , 1997, Development.

[46]  M. Frohman,et al.  Rapid amplification of complementary DNA ends for generation of full-length complementary DNAs: thermal RACE. , 1993, Methods in enzymology.

[47]  J. Faber,et al.  Normal Table of Xenopus Laevis (Daudin) , 1958 .

[48]  D. Wolgemuth,et al.  Conservation and divergence of patterns of expression and lineage-specific transcripts in orthologues and paralogues of the mouse Hox-1.4 gene. , 1993, Developmental biology.

[49]  J. Postlethwait,et al.  Goosecoid expression in neurectoderm and mesendoderm is disrupted in zebrafish cyclops gastrulas. , 1994, Developmental biology.

[50]  Ken W. Y. Cho,et al.  Molecular nature of Spemann's organizer: the role of the Xenopus homeobox gene goosecoid , 1991, Cell.

[51]  L. Kauvar,et al.  The engrailed locus of drosophila: Structural analysis of an embryonic transcript , 1985, Cell.

[52]  Ken W. Y. Cho,et al.  Gastrulation in the mouse: The role of the homeobox gene goosecoid , 1992, Cell.

[53]  H. Meinhardt.  A model for pattern formation of hypostome, tentacles, and foot in hydra: how to form structures close to each other, how to form them at a distance. , 1993, Developmental biology.

[54]  H. Bode,et al.  Plasticity in the nervous system of adult hydra. I. The position-dependent expression of FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity. , 1986, Developmental biology.

[55]  H. Jäckle,et al.  Drosophila goosecoid participates in neural development but not in body axis formation. , 1996, The EMBO journal.

[56]  R. Raghow,et al.  Murine homeobox-containing gene, Msx-1: analysis of genomic organization, promoter structure, and potential autoregulatory cis-acting elements. , 1994, Genomics.

[57]  F. Hauser,et al.  Expression and developmental regulation of the Hydra-RFamide and Hydra-LWamide preprohormone genes in Hydra: evidence for transient phases of head formation. , 1999, Developmental biology.

[58]  W. McGinnis,et al.  Developmental and molecular analysis of Deformed; a homeotic gene controlling Drosophila head development , 1987, The EMBO journal.

[59]  M. Nirenberg,et al.  The NK‐2 Homeobox Gene and the Early Development of the Central Nervous System of Drosophila , 1995, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[60]  S. Berking.  Commitment of stem cells to nerve cells and migration of nerve cells precursors in preparatory bud development in Hydra. , 1980, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.