High impact information on PV.1

• A novel homeobox gene PV.1 mediates induction of ventral mesoderm in Xenopus embryos [1].
• Here we report the identification of a novel Xenopus homeobox gene PV.1 (posterior-ventral 1) that is capable of mediating induction of ventral mesoderm [1].
• Overexpression of PV.1 yields ventralized tadpoles and rescues embryos partially dorsalized by LiCl treatment [1].
• PV.1 is expressed in the ventral marginal zone of blastulae and later in the posterior ventral area of gastrulae and neurulae [1].
• Here we provide evidence that PV.1 also functions downstream of BMP4 in the patterning of ectoderm, specifying epidermal and suppressing neural gene expression [2].

Anatomical context of PV.1

• The homeobox gene PV.1 mediates specification of the prospective neural ectoderm in Xenopus embryos [2].
• We have previously shown that PV.1 is also preferentially expressed in the ventral endoderm, suggesting that this transcription factor may be involved in the ventralization of all three germ layers [2].

Other interactions of PV.1

• The results suggest that PV.1 functions as a transcriptional repressor and this repressive activity is localized mostly to the C-terminal region [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of PV.1

• To address the physiological significance of these observations we employed an animal cap transplantation system and demonstrated that overexpression of PV.1 in the prospective neuroectoderm specifically blocks neurogenesis in intact embryos [2].

References