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Zhang C, Li J, Tarique I, Zhang Y, Lu T, Wang J, Chen A, Wen F, Zhang Z, Zhang Y, Shao M. A Time-Saving Strategy to Generate Double Maternal Mutants by an Oocyte-Specific Conditional Knockout System in Zebrafish. BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10080777. [PMID: 34440009 PMCID: PMC8389640 DOI: 10.3390/biology10080777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Maternally supplied mRNAs and proteins, termed maternal factors, are produced by over 14,000 coding genes in zebrafish. They play exclusive roles in controlling the formation of oocytes and the development of early embryos. These maternal factors can also compensate for the loss of function of its corresponding zygotic gene products. Thus, eliminating both maternal and zygotic gene products is essential to elucidate the functions of more than half of zebrafish genes. However, it is always challenging to inactivate maternal factors, because traditional genetic methods are either technically demanding or time-consuming. Our recent work established a rapid conditional knockout method to generate maternal or maternal and zygotic mutants in one fish generation. Here, we further test the feasibility of this approach to knock out two maternal genes with functional redundancy simultaneously. As a proof of principle, we successfully generated double maternal mutant embryos for dvl2 and dvl3a genes in three months for the first time. The cell movement defects in mutant embryos obtained by this approach mimic the genuine mutant embryos generated after fifteen months of time-consuming screening following the previously reported mosaic strategy. Therefore, this method has the potential to speed up the functional study of paralogous maternal genes. Abstract Maternal products are those mRNAs and proteins deposited during oogenesis, which play critical roles in controlling oocyte formation, fertilization, and early embryonic development. However, loss-of-function studies for these maternal factors are still lacking, mainly because of the prolonged period of transgenerational screening and technical barriers that prevent the generation of maternal (M) and maternal and zygotic (MZ) mutant embryos. By the transgenic expression of multiple sgRNAs targeting a single gene of interest in the background of a transgenic line Tg(zpc:zcas9) with oocyte-specific cas9 expression, we have successfully obtained maternal or maternal–zygotic mutant for single genes in F1 embryos. In this work, we tandemly connected a maternal GFP marker and eight sgRNA expression units to target dvl2 and dvl3a simultaneously and introduced this construct to the genome of Tg(zpc:zcas9) by meganuclease I-Sce I. As expected, we confirmed the existence of Mdvl2;Mdvl3a embryos with strong defective convergence and extension movement during gastrulation among outcrossed GFP positive F1 offspring. The MZdvl2;MZdvl3a embryos were also obtained by crossing the mutant carrying mosaic F0 female with dvl2+/−;dvl3a−/− male fish. This proof-of-principle thus highlights the potential of this conditional knockout strategy to circumvent the current difficulty in the study of genes with multiple functionally redundant paralogs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chong Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Jiaguang Li
- Taishan College, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (J.L.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Imran Tarique
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Yizhuang Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Tong Lu
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Jiasheng Wang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Aijun Chen
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Fenfen Wen
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Zhuoyu Zhang
- Taishan College, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (J.L.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Yanjun Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Ming Shao
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (C.Z.); (I.T.); (Y.Z.); (T.L.); (J.W.); (A.C.); (F.W.); (Y.Z.)
- Taishan College, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (J.L.); (Z.Z.)
- Correspondence:
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Zhang C, Lu T, Zhang Y, Li J, Tarique I, Wen F, Chen A, Wang J, Zhang Z, Zhang Y, Shi DL, Shao M. Rapid generation of maternal mutants via oocyte transgenic expression of CRISPR-Cas9 and sgRNAs in zebrafish. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg4243. [PMID: 34362733 PMCID: PMC8346210 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg4243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Maternal products are exclusive factors to drive oogenesis and early embryonic development. As disrupting maternal gene functions is either time-consuming or technically challenging, early developmental programs regulated by maternal factors remain mostly elusive. We provide a transgenic approach to inactivate maternal genes in zebrafish primary oocytes. By introducing three tandem single guide RNA (sgRNA) expression cassettes and a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter into Tg(zpc:zcas9) embryos, we efficiently obtained maternal nanog and ctnnb2 mutants among GFP-positive F1 offspring. Notably, most of these maternal mutants displayed either sgRNA site-spanning genomic deletions or unintended large deletions extending distantly from the sgRNA targets, suggesting a prominent deletion-prone tendency of genome editing in the oocyte. Thus, our method allows maternal gene knockout in the absence of viable and fertile homozygous mutant adults. This approach is particularly time-saving and can be applied for functional screening of maternal factors and generating genomic deletions in zebrafish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chong Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Tong Lu
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Yizhuang Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Jiaguang Li
- Shandong University Taishan College, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Imran Tarique
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Fenfen Wen
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Aijun Chen
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Jiasheng Wang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Zhuoyu Zhang
- Shandong University Taishan College, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - Yanjun Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
| | - De-Li Shi
- Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, China
- Developmental Biology Laboratory, CNRS-UMR7622, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Sorbonne University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Ming Shao
- Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
- Shandong University Taishan College, Qingdao 266237, China
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Rbm24 controls poly(A) tail length and translation efficiency of crystallin mRNAs in the lens via cytoplasmic polyadenylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:7245-7254. [PMID: 32170011 PMCID: PMC7132282 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1917922117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Lens transparency critically requires the abundant accumulation of crystallin proteins, and deregulation of this process causes congenital cataracts in humans. Rbm24 is an RNA-binding protein with highly conserved expression in differentiating lens fiber cells among all vertebrates. We use a zebrafish model to demonstrate that loss of Rbm24 function specifically impedes lens fiber cell differentiation, resulting in cataract formation and blindness. Molecular analyses reveal that Rbm24 interacts with cytoplasmic polyadenylation complex and binds to a large number of lens-expressed messenger RNAs to maintain their stability and protect their poly(A) tail length, thereby crucially contributing to their efficient translation into functional proteins. This work identifies an important mechanism by which Rbm24 posttranscriptionally controls lens gene expression to establish transparency and refraction power. Lens transparency is established by abundant accumulation of crystallin proteins and loss of organelles in the fiber cells. It requires an efficient translation of lens messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to overcome the progressively reduced transcriptional activity that results from denucleation. Inappropriate regulation of this process impairs lens differentiation and causes cataract formation. However, the regulatory mechanism promoting protein synthesis from lens-expressed mRNAs remains unclear. Here we show that in zebrafish, the RNA-binding protein Rbm24 is critically required for the accumulation of crystallin proteins and terminal differentiation of lens fiber cells. In the developing lens, Rbm24 binds to a wide spectrum of lens-specific mRNAs through the RNA recognition motif and interacts with cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein (Cpeb1b) and cytoplasmic poly(A)-binding protein (Pabpc1l) through the C-terminal region. Loss of Rbm24 reduces the stability of a subset of lens mRNAs encoding heat shock proteins and shortens the poly(A) tail length of crystallin mRNAs encoding lens structural components, thereby preventing their translation into functional proteins. This severely impairs lens transparency and results in blindness. Consistent with its highly conserved expression in differentiating lens fiber cells, the findings suggest that vertebrate Rbm24 represents a key regulator of cytoplasmic polyadenylation and plays an essential role in the posttranscriptional control of lens development.
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Cheng XN, Shao M, Shi DL. Collagen triple helix repeat containing 1a (Cthrc1a) regulates cell adhesion and migration during gastrulation in zebrafish. Exp Cell Res 2019; 381:112-120. [DOI: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2019.04.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Revised: 04/08/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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Liu Y, Zhang C, Zhang Y, Lin S, Shi DL, Shao M. Highly efficient genome editing using oocyte-specific zcas9 transgenic zebrafish. J Genet Genomics 2018; 45:509-512. [PMID: 30270014 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2018] [Revised: 04/11/2018] [Accepted: 05/07/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Liu
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
| | - Chong Zhang
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
| | - Yanjun Zhang
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
| | - Siyao Lin
- Taishan College, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
| | - De-Li Shi
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS UMR7622, IBPS-Developmental Biology Laboratory, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Ming Shao
- School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
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