Xenbase Image ID: 134523

FIGURE 1. BMP15 expression in Xenopus embryos. A, alignment of the amino acid sequences for the Xenopus (xBMP15) human (hBMP15), and mouse (mBMP15) mature peptide. The mouse and Xenopus proteins show a homology of the 68 and 44%, respectively, with the human protein. B, schematic of a conventional TGFβ ligand, BMP4 (top), highlighting the prodomain (green), the mature domain (red), and the position of the seven signature cysteines. The fourth cysteines in the mature region (highlighted in red) are missing in BMP15 (bottom). C, temporal expression of BMP15 during Xenopus embryonic development, detected by reverse transcription-PCR. BMP15 is expressed maternally in the egg and maintained throughout development. Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) was used as a loading control. St., stage. D–M, patterns of expression of xBMP15-RNA, as detected by whole-mount in situ hybridization. BMP15 expression is detected in the animal pole region of 4-cell stage embryo (D and E) and maintained in the prospective ectoderm at blastula stage (F and G). Expression then becomes ubiquitous within the ectoderm (H and I). At the neural tube closure, BMP15 is maintained in the nervous system (J and L), and at stage 26 the expression becomes exclusive to the anterior, including sensory organs and hindbrain (l). At tail-bud stage (28), peak expression is maintained in the brain and eyes (K and M). Image published in: Di Pasquale E and Brivanlou AH (2009) Copyright © 2009. Image reproduced with permission of the publisher and the copyright holder. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. Gene Synonyms Species Stage(s) Tissue bmp15.L gdf9b X. laevis Sometime during NF stage 3 (4-cell) to NF stage 28 ectoderm animal pole spinal cord Image source: Published Larger Image Printer Friendly View

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