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Gene Review:

bra - brachyury protein

Ciona intestinalis

Imai, K. et al., Corbo, J.C. et al., Yagi, K. et al., Satoh, G. et al., Takahashi, H. et al.

Imai, Takada, Satoh, Satou, Satoh, Harada, Satoh, Yagi, Satou, Satoh,

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High impact information on Bra

Brachyury downstream notochord differentiation in the ascidian embryo [1].
A zinc finger transcription factor, ZicL, is a direct activator of Brachyury in the notochord specification of Ciona intestinalis [2].
Both the overexpression of (beta)-catenin in presumptive notochord cells and the downregulation of (beta)-catenin in presumptive endoderm cells led to the suppression of Brachyury gene expression, resulting in the failure of notochord specification [3].
This method permitted the identification of a minimal, 434 bp enhancer from the Ci-Bra promoter region that mediates the notochord-restricted expression of both GFP and lacZ reporter genes [4].
This enhancer contains a negative control region that excludes Ci-Bra expression from inappropriate embryonic lineages, including the trunk mesenchyme and tail muscles [4].

Biological context of Bra

In ascidian embryos, Brachyury is expressed exclusively in blastomeres of the notochord lineage and play an essential role in the notochord cell differentiation [2].
While previous studies have shown that Brachyury is essential for notochord formation in vertebrate embryos, this gene is also expressed during the embryogenesis of nonchordate deuterostomes, hemichordates and echinoderms [5].

References

Brachyury downstream notochord differentiation in the ascidian embryo. Takahashi, H., Hotta, K., Erives, A., Di Gregorio, A., Zeller, R.W., Levine, M., Satoh, N. Genes Dev. (1999) [Pubmed]
A zinc finger transcription factor, ZicL, is a direct activator of Brachyury in the notochord specification of Ciona intestinalis. Yagi, K., Satou, Y., Satoh, N. Development (2004) [Pubmed]
(beta)-catenin mediates the specification of endoderm cells in ascidian embryos. Imai, K., Takada, N., Satoh, N., Satou, Y. Development (2000) [Pubmed]
Characterization of a notochord-specific enhancer from the Brachyury promoter region of the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. Corbo, J.C., Levine, M., Zeller, R.W. Development (1997) [Pubmed]
The expression of nonchordate deuterostome Brachyury genes in the ascidian Ciona embryo can promote the differentiation of extra notochord cells. Satoh, G., Harada, Y., Satoh, N. Mech. Dev. (2000) [Pubmed]

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