RNA-Seq identifies SPGs as a ventral skeletal patterning cue in sea urchins

作者：Michael L. Piacentino, Daniel T. Zuch, Julie Fishman, Sviatlana Rose, Emily Speranza, Christy Li, Jia Xin Yu, Oliver Chung, Janani Ramachandran, Patrick I. Ferrell, Vijeta Patel, Arlene Reyna, Hajerah Hameeduddin, James Chaves, Finnegan B. Hewitt, Evan Bardot, David Lee, Amanda B. Core, John D. Hogan, Jessica L. Keenan, Lingqi Luo, Jasmin Coulombe‐Huntington, Todd Blute, Е. С. Олейник, Jonas Ibn-Salem, Albert J. Poustka, Cynthia A. Bradham · 发表于：Development · 年份：2016 · DOI：10.1242/dev.129312 · 被引用次数：39 · 研究领域：Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans research、Echinoderm biology and ecology、Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation

The sea urchin larval 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 ectodermal cues, 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 transporter that 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 sulfate levels or proteoglycan sulfation. These results identify novel skeletal patterning genes and demonstrate that ventral proteoglycan sulfation serves as a positional cue for sea urchin skeletal patterning.