Functional Knockdown: Truncation of Novel FT93a Protein
Authors:
Ankur Saxena, Jing XuMentor:
Marianne Bronner, Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology, California Institute of TechnologyProtein traps resulting from vectors inserted at random into developing zebrafish embryos have been used to create fluorescently tagged fusion proteins. The previously unknown protein FT93a was discovered this way, and it is expressed in the developing olfactory system. A potential loss-of-function model was created via a fluorescently tagged, truncated version of this protein. Here, we performed live confocal imaging of FT93a zebrafish. Results show that the truncated protein’s localization and expression is disrupted. The protein appears to aggregate in the nuclei of some cells as the embryo develops and is present beyond its normal expression domain. Preliminary results suggest that a partially penetrant phenotype of aberrant development may exist in some embryos.