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EMBO reports 8, 3, 287–292 (2007)
doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400903
AOP Published online: 16 February 2007
Maintenance of motor neuron progenitors in Xenopus requires a novel localized cyclin
Jun-An Chen1, Sin-Tak Chu2 & Enrique Amaya1, 3
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1 The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK
2 Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Post Box 23-106, Taipei, Taiwan
3 The Healing Foundation Centre, Michael Smith Building, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
To whom correspondence should be addressed
Enrique Amaya Tel: 44 161 275 1716; Fax: 44 161 275 1505; E-mail: enrique.amaya@manchester.ac.uk
Received 2 August 2006; Accepted 19 December 2006; Published online 16 February 2007.
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Abstract
The ventral spinal cord contains a pool of motor neuron progenitors (pMNs), which sequentially generate motor neurons and oligodendrocytes in the embryo. The mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of pMNs are not clearly understood. We have identified a novel cyclin, cyclin Dx (ccndx), which is specifically expressed in pMNs in Xenopus. Here, we show that inhibition of ccndx causes paralysis in embryos. Furthermore, we show that maintenance of pMNs requires ccndx function. In addition, inhibition of ccndx results in the specific loss of differentiated motor neurons. However, the expression of interneuron or sensory neuron markers is unaffected in these embryos, suggesting that the role of ccndx is specifically to maintain pMNs. Thus, we have identified, for the first time, a tissue-specific cell-cycle regulator that is essential for the maintenance of a pool of neural progenitors in the vertebrate spinal cord.
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