ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF LUNATIC FRINGE LEADS TO DOWN-REGULATION OF SERRATE-1 IN THE DEVELOPING CHICK NEURAL-TUBE - ANALYSIS USING IN OVO ELECTROPORATION TRANSFECTION TECHNIQUE

Lunatic Fringe (l-Fng) is one of the vertebrate homologues of Drosophi la Fringe, which interacts with the Notch signal pathway and regulates activation of the Notch ligands, Delta and Serrate. To elucidate the roles of l-Fng in vertebrate neurogenesis, we transfected chick l-Fng (C-l-Fng) to chick neural tube using the in ovo electroporation techni que and examined the subsequent changes in expression of Notch-related genes. We observed downregulation of C-Serrate-1 by ectopic C-l-Fng e xpression which implied that C-l-Fng acts on the vertebrate Notch path way to regulate the expression of its ligand. (C) 1998 Federation of E uropean Biochemical Societies.