High impact information on snai1b

• We show that sym1 mutants have normal numbers of premigratory neural crest cells, but these cells express reduced levels of snai1b and sox10, implicating foxd3 as an essential regulator of these transcription factors in the premigratory neural crest [1].
• Transcripts of a newly discovered gene called snail2, encoding a zinc finger protein of the Snail family, first appear in rows of cephalic mesendodermal cells in gastrulating zebrafish embryos [2].
• Expression of snail2, a second member of the zebrafish snail family, in cephalic mesendoderm and presumptive neural crest of wild-type and spadetail mutant embryos [2].
• At the end of gastrulation, snail2 RNA accumulates in a domain of ectodermal cells that mark the border between the epidermal epithelium and the neural plate and includes precursors of the neural crest [2].
• In these mutants, the number of cephalic mesendodermal cells expressing snail2 is strongly reduced and the distribution of cells containing snail2 and no tail transcripts in the axial mesoderm is much broader than normal Moreover, the embryos are shorter than normal at the end of gastrulation [2].

References