Musas
hi (
Msi) is an evolutionarily conserved gene family of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) t
hat is preferentially expressed in t
he nervous system. T
he first member of t
he Msi family was identified in
Drosophila.
Drosophila Msi plays an important role in regulating asymmetric cell division of t
he sensory organ precursor cells. T
he mammalian ort
hologs, including
human and mouse Musas
hi1 (Msi1), are neural RBPs t
hat are strongly expressed in fetal and adult neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs). Mammalian Msi1 contributes to self renewal of NS/PCs t
hroug
h translational regulation of several target mRNAs. In t
his study, t
he zebrafis
h Msi ort
holog
zMsi1 was identified and c
haracterized. T
he normal spatial and temporal expression profiles for bot
h protein and mRNA were determined. A series of splice variants were detected. Overall, zMsi1 was strongly expressed in neural tissue in early stages of development and ex
hibited similarity to mammalian Msi1 expression patterns. To reveal t
he
in vivo function of zMsi1, morp
holinos against Msi1 were introduced into one-cell stage zebrafis
h embryos. Knock down of
zmsi1 frequently resulted in aberrant formation of t
he Central Nervous System (CNS). T
hese results suggest t
hat Msi1 plays roles in CNS development in vertebrates.
This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 鈥淩NA-Binding Proteins鈥?