Actin is a ubiquitous protein and plays essential roles on cellular structure maintenance and cellular motility in both mu- scle and non-muscle tissues. Multiple genes encoding muscle actin have been identified from the ascidians, including those expressed in the larval tail muscle, the adult body-wall muscle, and adult heart muscle. In this study, a novel striated non-tail muscle actin gene was identified from the RNA-seq data of Ciona savignyi embryos. Phylogenetic analysis, alignment of the N-terminal amino acid se- quences and comparation of diagnostic residues provided evidence that it had high similarity with vertebrate cardiac and skeletal mu- scle actin. In situ hybridization and promoter-driven GFP reporter assay revealed that it was specifically expressed in the primordia of the oral and atrial siphon. We hereby defined it as siphon-specific muscle actin coding gene (Cs-SMA). A 201 bp (?1350 bp to ?1150 bp) sequence containing T-box and Six1/2 binding motif within the upstream region of Cs-SMA confined the expression of GFP in the siphons of electroporated embryos. Six1/2 binding motif was experimentally confirmed to play indispensable role in controlling the siphon-specific expression of Cs-SMA. The tissue-specific expression of Cs-SMA in the siphon primordia indicated its potential crucial roles in Ciona embryogenesis and organogenesis.

YUE Wenxuan;QIAO Jinghan;YANG Xiuxia;DONG Bo

Sars-Fang Center,MOE Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding,College of Marine Life Sciences,Ocean University of China,Qingdao 266003,China;Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology,Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology,Qingdao 266237,China;Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity,Ocean University of China,Qingdao 266003,China

中国海洋大学学报（自然科学英文版）

[1]YUE Wenxuan;QIAO Jinghan;YANG Xiuxia;DONG Bo-.Siphon-Specific Expression of an Actin Encoding Gene Is Regulated by Six1/2 in Ciona savignyi)[J].中国海洋大学学报（自然科学英文版）,2022(06):1597-1606

Siphon,Ciona,savignyi,ascidians,comparation,siphon,electroporated

Specific,Expression,Actin,Encoding,Gene,Is,Regulated,Six1,ubiquitous,protein,plays,essential,roles,cellular,structure,maintenance,motility,both,muscle,tissues,Multiple,encoding,actin,have,been,identified,from,including,those,expressed,larval,tail,adult,body,wall,heart,In,this,study,novel,striated,was,data,embryos,Phylogenetic,analysis,alignment,terminal,amino,acid,quences,diagnostic,residues,provided,evidence,that,had,high,similarity,vertebrate,cardiac,skeletal,situ,hybridization,promoter,driven,GFP,reporter,assay,revealed,specifically,primordia,oral,atrial,We,hereby,defined,Cs,SMA,bp,sequence,containing,box,binding,motif,within,upstream,region,confined,expression,siphons,experimentally,confirmed,indispensable,controlling,indicated,its,potential,crucial,embryogenesis,organogenesis

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