Many basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional factors play important roles in
vertebrate neurogenesis. Among them, Neurogenins act as determination fact
ors and initiate the expression of differentiation genes such as neuroD and
other neurogenic genes. Here we describe a zebrafish cDNA (neurogenin3 or
ngn3) encoding a novel member of the Neurogenin family closest to mouse Ngn
3 and human NGN3. Using a zebrafish radiation hybrid panel, ngn3 was mapped
to zebrafish linkage group 13 and the region displayed a conserved synteny
with the region of human chromosome 10 containing NGN3. As judged by RT-PC
R and whole-mount in situ hybridization, ngn3 expression in zebrafish start
ed much later than other neurogenin genes, at only around 24 h post-fertili
zation (hpf) and with a higher level of expression on the left side of the
anterio-ventral diencephalon. Later at 48 hpf, ngn3 expression was detected
in a small number of cells in the tuberal hypothalamus. Unlike Ngn3 in the
mouse, zebrafish ngn3 mRNAs were not detected in developing pancreas and s
pinal cord. Genomic Southern blot hybridization suggested that a closely re
lated sequence is present in the zebrafish genome and the hypothetical gene
might result from the recent genome duplication in certain teleost lineage
and share the function of the common ancestor with the currently character
ized ngn3. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.