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Fig. 3. Maternal syntabulin mRNA is present during early stages of development, and associates with germ plasm and germ cells. (A) Semiquantitative RT-PCR showing syntabulin (sybu) mRNA levels at different developmental stages. Histone 4 (H4) mRNA was used as loading control. (B, C) In the cleaving embryo, syntabulin mRNA associates to germ plasm islands, that occupy a characteristic position close to the cleavage furrow (arrows). (D) During gastrulation, syntabulin transcripts are detected in a small subset of endodermal cells (arrow), corresponding to the known location of germ cell precursors. (E) At stage 33, syntabulin is detected in different tissues such as the olfactory placode (op), the neural tube (nt) and the germ cells. (F) Expression pattern of an established germ cell marker, Xpat, at stage 33. Note the similar localization between syntabulin and Xpat in the germ cell territory. |
