Download - Comparative Analysis of Pax-6 Sequence and Expression in the

Comparative Analysis of Pax-6 Sequence and Expression in the Eye Development of the Blind Cave Fish Astyanax fasciatus and its Epigean Conspecific

Maik Behrens, * Thomas G. Langecker,? Horst WilkensJ and Hartwig Schmale* *Institut fur Zellbiochemie und klinische Neurobiologie, Universitatskrankenhaus Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; and tZoologisches Institut und Museum, Universitat Hamburg, Germany

The Pax-6 gene encodes a transcription factor essential for eye development in a wide range of animal phyla. In order to elucidate a possible role of Pax-6 in the eye regression of a blind cave form of the freshwater fish Astyanux fusciutus (Characidae, Teleostei) we investigated the expression of Pax-6 in eyes and brains of different larval stages by in situ hybridization. Pattern, strength, and time course of Pax-6 expression were not altered in the tissues of the cave form when compared to the epigean form. Pax-6 was even expressed in the highly degenerated eyes of late larval stages of the cave form. Comparative sequence analysis of Pax-6 cDNA clones of both forms of Astyanux fusciatus showed the complete integrity of cave fish Pax-6 mRNA. These results suggest that Pax-6 is not involved in the evolutionary process of eye degeneration in this model system of cave-living fishes. Comparison of the Astyunux Pax-6 cDNA with the other available fish Pax-6 sequence from zebrafish revealed putative fish-specific regions of homology. A stretch of 19 N-terminal amino acids is nearly identical on the nucleotide and amino acid levels in both fish species but not present in all other known Pax-6 sequences.

Introduction

Pax-6 is one of nine paired-box-containing genes presently found in vertebrates. The common feature of this multigene family is the DNA-binding paired box which was first described in the Drosophila segmentation gene paired (prd) (Bopp et al. 1986). Some of the Pax genes, among them Pax-6, have an additional complete DNA-binding domain, the homeodomain. Pax-6 is expressed in the eye, brain, and spinal cord during em- bryogenesis (Strachan and Read 1994). The sequence and expression pattern is well conserved over a wide range of animal phyla, including mammals, birds, am- phibians, fishes, echinoderms, and insects (for a review see Halder, Callaerts, and Gehring 1995). Several natu- rally occuring mutants with defective Pax-6 expression have been described so far in vertebrates: the small eye mutation in mice (Sey) (Hill et al. 1991) and rat (rSey) (Matsuo et al. 1993) as well as the human diseases aniridia (AN) syndrome (Ton et al. 1991), Peters’ anomaly (Hanson et al. 1994), and autosomal dominant keratitis (Mirzayans et al. 1995). Sey and AN mutations cause severe abnormalities, especially of the eye and nose, in the homozygous state and are lethal, whereas in hetero- zygous mutants the development of the nose is not affected and eye defects occur in milder form. Pax-6 is also involved in the morphogenesis of the insect eye since the eyeless mutation which was found in the Dro- sophila Pax-6 homolog causes absence of the complex eyes (Quiring et al. 1994).

The analysis of Pax-6 mutants has clearly estab- lished that this transcription factor plays a central role in eye development (Macdonald and Wilson 1996). Dis-

Key words: Astyanux fasciatus, Pax-6, regressive evolution, cave fish, eye development.

Address for correspondence and reprints: Prof. Dr. Hartwig Schmale, Institut fur Zellbiochemie und klinische Neurobiologie, Universitatskrankenhaus Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Ham- burg, Germany. E-mail: [email protected].

Mol. Biol. Evol. 14(3):299-308. 1997 0 1997 by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. ISSN: 0737-4038

turbances in the morphogenesis of the eye are not only known from pathological cases, but can also result from nonpathological evolutionary processes. Many deep-sea organisms as well as cave-dwelling animals evolve degenerate eyes in response to the continous darkness of their environment. Cave animals exhibit a convergent reduction of eyes and melanin pigmentation, whereas nonvisual sensory organs may show a hypertrophic development (Wilkens 1988).

To test the hypothesis that alterations of Pax-6 expression are involved in the eye regression of a cave- living freshwater fish, we have used in this study Asty- anax fasciatus (Cuvier 1819), a small characid from Mexico. Sometime during Pleistocene the epigean form split off a series of independent cave populations (Mitchell, Russel, and Elliot 1977). All adult fishes of the “Piedras” cave population have largely degenerated eyes with completely reduced lenses. The Astyanax system allowed classical genetic approaches to the analysis of the nature of eye defects, because the cave fishes are still interfertile with their surface form. It could be shown that the Fi generation has intermediate but still functional eyes. The F2 generation exhibits a great vari- ability of eye sizes ranging from nearly normal to almost completely reduced (Wilkens 1988). These studies led to the assumption that at least six genetic factors are involved. The loss of function of a developmental control gene was considered to be more likely than defects exclusively in structural genes because during early ontogeny the cave fish eye develops almost all structural components of that of the epigean form (Wilkens 1988; Langecker, Schmale, and Wilkens 1993). Similarities in the morphology of the reduced cave fish eye with het- erozygous small-eye mice, namely microphthalmia and rudimentary or absent lenses (Hogan et al. 1986, 1988), led us to compare Pax-6 gene expression and structure between epigean and cave forms.

Here we report that time course and expression pattern of Pax-6 mRNA in the developing eye and in dis-

299

300 Behrens et al.

Crete brain regions is not altered in cave forms of As- corresponding plasmid clones in pBluescript were gen- tyanax fasciatus. Comparison of Pax-6 cDNA clones erated. Appropriate overlapping subclones of two cDNA from cave and epigean forms indicates that there are no clones derived from the epigean form and three cDNA mutations which could give rise to changes in the amino clones of the cave form were prepared and sequenced acid sequence of the predicted Pax-6 protein. on both strands by the dideoxynucleotide chain-termi-

Materials and Methods Polymerase Chain Reaction

nation method performed either radioactively with the T7-DNA sequencing kit (Pharmacia) or with the Taq Dye Primer Cycle Sequencing Kit using the 373 A DNA

Degenerated primers were designed using con- Sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.). served regions in mouse and zebrafish Pax-6 sequences. Computer analysis of sequences was done using the The 5’ primer 5 ‘-GTGTCCAACGGCTGCGTGAG- GCG program package. TAA(G,A)AT-3’ corresponds to positions 346-37 1 (mouse Pax-6) (Walther and Gruss 1991) and 729-754 Northern Blot Analysis (zebrafish Pax-6) (Piischel, Gruss, and Westerfield 1992), respectively, the 3’ primer 5’-CTGGGTATAT- TATCGTTTGT(G,A)CAIAC-3’ to positions 535-560 (mouse) and 918-943 (zebrafish). The PCR reaction (50 ~1) contained 500 ng genomic DNA of the epigean fish, 2 p,g of each primer, 25 ~.LM dNTPs, 4.2 U Taq polymerase (Promega, Madison, Wis.), 50 mM KCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 9.0), 0.1% Triton X-100, and 2 mM MgC12. The amplification was performed for 40 cycles (1 min at 94”C, 2 min at 55”C, 3 min at 72°C) in a Hybaid thermocycler. Because the amplification led to a single but slightly diffuse band of approximately 230 bp, the cloned PCR-products were analyzed by dot-blot hybridization at low stringency with a heterologous mouse Pax-6 probe. Sequencing of positive clones con- firmed the identity of the Pax-6 fragment.

Animals Epigean fishes from Rio Teapao and cave fishes

from the Sotano de las Piedras (San Luis Potosi) were originally caught in Mexico and bred in the laboratory. After spawning, the fertilized eggs of both epigean and cave specimens were transferred into shallow breeding containers and kept under a light-dark cycle of 12 h at 25 + 1°C. Hatching of the larvae occured after 18 h (Langecker, Schmale, and Wilkens 1993; Langecker, Wilkens, and Schmale 1995).

Preparation and Screening of cDNA Libraries Poly(A)+ RNA was prepared from whole 40-h lar-

vae with the MicroFastTrack mRNA Isolation kit (In- vitrogen, San Diego, Calif.). Five micrograms of poly(A)+ RNA each were used for cDNA synthesis and cloning into the Uni-Zap XR vector following the instructions of the A-ZAP-cDNA synthesis kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.). About 5 X lo5 pfu of the amplified libraries were screened with the random primed (x-~~P- labeled Pax-6 fragment (Feinberg and Vogelstein 1983) obtained from the PCR experiment. The nitrocellulose filters BA 85/20 (Schleicher & Schtill, Dassel, Germany)

Poly(A)+ RNA of 40-h-old fish larvae was prepared with the MicroFastTrack mRNA Isolation kit (In- vitrogen, San Diego, Calif.). Then, 3.5 pg of the epigean form and 2.5 p,g of the cave form RNA were denatured by glyoxylation, separated on a 1% agarose gel and blot- ted onto Genescreen plus (DuPont) using standard pro- cedures (Sambrook, Fritsch, and Maniatis 1989). After UV-crosslinkage with an energy of 120 mJ/cm2, the membrane-bound RNA was deglyoxylated by incubation for 10 min in 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) at 65°C. A 900-bp Pst I/Apa I fragment from the 3’ end of one Pax-6 cDNA clone was random labeled with 32P-a- dCTP to a specific activity of 9 X lo8 cpm/pg DNA. Prehybridization was performed for 4 h at 50°C in 50% deionized formamide, 4 X SSPE, 1% SDS, 5 X Den- hardt’s reagent and 100 p,g/ml of heat-denatured calf- thymus DNA followed by hybridization overnight under the same conditions in hybridization buffer containing 1 X lo7 cpm/ml of the labeled 900-bp fragment. After hybridization the membranes were washed two times for 15 min in 0.1 X SSC; 0.1% SDS at room temperature (RT), and 30 min at 50°C.

Genomic Southern Blotting

Genomic DNA of the epigean and the cave forms was isolated according to a standard procedure (Herrm- ann and Frischauf 1987) and digested with 100 Units EcoRI and HindIII, respectively. The transfer of the al- kali-denatured DNA to Genescreen plus and the prehybridization and hybridization with the cloned Pax-6-specific PCR fragment (random labeled to a specific activity of 3 X lo9 cpm/pg DNA) were performed exactly as described for the RNA blot. The membrane was washed two times for 10 min at room temperature in 2 X SSC, 0.1% SDS.

In situ Hybridization Probe L.ubelinx

were prehybridized in 50% formamide, 4 X SSPE, 1% SDS, 5 X Denhardt’s reagent, 100 p,g/ml calf-thymus

The radioactively labeled antisense and sense RNA

DNA at 42°C for 2.5 h and hybridized overnight in fresh probes were generated by in vitro transcription from the

hybridization solution with 1 X lo6 cpm/ml of the above linearized plasmid containing the 230-bp Pax-6 specific

probe. PCR fragment using 50 @i 33P-(x-UTP and SP6 or T7

DNA Sequencing RNA polymerases, respectively. The incorporation rate was determined by TCA precipitation. After two sub-

Positive X-ZAP clones were subjected to in vivo sequent ethanol precipitations, the probes were resus- excision following the instructions of the supplier, and pended in H20.

Comparative Analysis of Pax-6 in Astyanax 301

Pretreatments of Slides and Cryostat Sections

Slides were pretreated with 3-aminopropyltriethox- ysilane (Sigma, Deisenhofen, Germany). Cryostat cross sections of 10 p,m thickness were cut from whole fish larvae embedded into Tissue Tek (Miles Scientific, Elk- hart, Ind.) at -20°C and transferred onto the slides.

Fixation of Tissue

Sections were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in 1 X PBS, 1 mM MgC12 (5 min, RT). After washing the slides in 1 X PBS (1 min, RT) a UV-crosslinking step with an energy of 120 mJ/cm2 was performed, followed by a second wash in 1 X PBS (1 min, RT). After incubation in 0.2 M HCl (10 min, RT) and 1% Triton X-100 in 1 X PBS (2 min, RT) and rinsing in 1 X PBS (1 min, RT), the slides were dehydrated in 60%, 80%, 95%, and 100% ethanol (5 min, RT each) and air-dried (RT).

Hybridization

Before hybridization, the slides were prehybridized in a buffer containing 50% formamide, 750 mM NaCl, 25 mM PIPES, 25 mM EDTA ( pH 6.8 ), 5 X Den- hardt’s reagent, 0.2% SDS; 250 pg/ml yeast tRNA, and 250 kg/ml calf-thymus DNA. About 1.5 ml prehybridization buffer was applied per slide, followed by incubation in a humid chamber for 5 h at 50°C. Then, 70 pl of hybridization buffer containing 4 ng of radioactive probe was applied per slide and covered with a cover- slip. Hybridization was carried out overnight at 50°C in a humid chamber.

Washing and Autoradiography

Coverslips were removed in 4 X SSC at RT. After rinsing the slides three times for 5 min in 2 X SSC at RT they were incubated in 0.5 M NaCl, 10 mM Tris- HCl ( pH 7.5 ), 1 mM EDTA ( pH 7.5 ), and 40 kg/ml RNAse A at 37°C for 30 min, followed by an incubation in the same buffer without RNAse. After incubation in 0.2 X SSC at RT for 15 min the slides were washed two times in 0.2 X SSC at 50°C for 15 min each and than dehydrated in the graded ethanol series. After drying at RT, the slides were heated to 42°C on a slide warmer and dipped in NTB-3 photo emulsion (Kodak, Rochester, N.Y.) at 42°C. After drying for 3 h at RT the slides were exposed for 13 days in light-tight boxes at 4°C.

Developing and Mounting

Slides were developed with Kodak D19 for 2 min, rinsed for 1 min with deionized water, fixed in Kodak Unifix twice for 10 min each, and rinsed twice with deionized water for 10 min. Staining was performed according to the following protocol: 5 min in freshly fil- tered Mayer’s hemalum solution, rinse in deionized water, 70% ethanol; 1% HCl for differentiation. After de- hydration in the graded ethanol series and equilibration in xylene (twice for 10 min each) the coverslips were mounted with entellan (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany).

Results Blot Hybridizations and Isolation of Pax-6 cDNA Clones

We compared the overall genomic structure of the Pax-6 gene in epigean A. fasciatus and the Piedras cave form by genomic Southern blot analysis. In both fish forms the Pax-6-specific probe derived from the paired box hybridized to a single band of approximately 12 kb after EcoRI and 0.9 kb after Hind111 digests, respectively (fig. 1A). This result suggested that at least the part of the Pax-6 gene covered by the probe was not rearranged in the cave form. To determine the length of Astyanax fusciatus Pax-6 mRNA we performed a Northern blot analysis with poly(A)+ RNA of 40-h-old epigean and cave fish larvae and found in both cases a single tran- script of approximately 2.7 kb (fig. 1B).

Since the DNA and RNA blot hybridization exper- iments do not allow the detection of more subtle changes of the genes, we analyzed Pax-6 cDNA clones derived from epigean A. fasciatus and the cave form. We chose to prepare cDNA libraries from whole 40-h- old fish larvae because at this stage, when the degen- erative events in the cave fish eye begin, the propor- tional amount of developing eye-derived tissue and Pax- 6 expression are optimal.

Comparison of Pax-6 cDNA Sequences from Epigean A. fasciatus and the Piedras Cave Form

Comparative sequence analysis of two Pax-6 cDNA clones of the epigean fish and three of the cave fish revealed a total number of seven polymorphic sites. Four of these nucleotide differences are present in the two representative sequences shown in figure 2. The deduced amino acid sequences of both fish forms are identical. The Astyanax fasciatus gene, when compared with the Pax-6 sequences of other species, showed the high- est homology to the zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio, Pax- 6. The nucleotide sequence identity between A. fasciatus and zebrafish Pax-6 cDNAs in the coding region amounts to 88%. On the protein level, the sequences are 98% identical. Both A. fasciatus and B. rerio Pax-6 proteins exhibit 19 N-terminal amino acids which are not found in all other known Pax-6 homologues. The predicted protein sequences in this part differ by only one amino acid (fig. 3).

While the homeodomain of the A. fasciatus Pax-6 protein is 100% identical to the zebrafish and mouse homologues, the paired domain shows some conserva- tive exchanges. The tyrosine residue in position 123 of A. fasciatus Pax-6 is replaced by phenylalanine, and the valine at position 144 is changed to isoleucine. Glycine at position 118 is used in both fish species instead of serine in the mouse sequence (fig. 3).

One of the isolated A. fasciatus Pax-6 cDNA clones of the cave fish contained an additional exon of 42 bp in the sequence encoding the paired domain which also has been found at the identical position in zebrafish and other vertebrate Pax-6 homologues (Ptischel, Gruss, and Westerfield 1992; Walther and Gruss 1991; Glaser, Wal- ton, and Maas 1992). It has already been shown that this


epig. 1 cave 1

80 91

169 181

259 271

349 361

439 451

529 541

619 631

709 721

799 811

889 901

979 991

TTACTCTATCTCTCTTTTCC~~CT~TTTATTTTATT~ACT~CATCGTCQT~CGCGT~CMGGTT~CCCTCCACG CACTCACCCAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CaCACK)AAAOOAGCOCGAGGAGMTCMCCTTATAGC~GTAGACGTAC~-TT~~AGCA~TCCGAT~GCMCGAGGC~TA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G . . . . . . . T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AMGCACGAGMGTTTCTATC~~~~~AACT~A~TTACCACCCACACMGGGMGGMTAGT~TGTGAGCT~CTTCAGA~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TOTTTTCCACGCATCCTTTAOOCOOCCACCCGACICGAOCMTCTTTaOOATCCACGMCCTACATATGGTCTOOCTGAGGGACGAGCTTG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GACACAOCCTMGOOA~C~CCTCCTCGAC~CA~T~MACTATAMGGACCACACGMCTA~CCMGGGAGCTTTT~CTG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TTTA~TOOGAAAGMGAC~ACTMCGA~AGTTCGACMCGCACCCACAC~TGCCGC~MGMTACTATMCCGGACCACGTG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MPQKEYYNRTTW

OaAGTCTaOTGTAGCTTCCATaATOCMMC~GTCACAGTGOOGTGMCCAGCTC~~G~TGT~GTGMCG~A~CC~~CC~A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ESGVASWWQNS HSGVNQLGGVFVNGRPLPD

CTCCACCAGACAGMOATAGT~A~~~GCATA~~AGC~GACCTT~GACATATCCCG~~CTACA TGTCCAACGGCTGCGT Jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . STRQUIVRLAHSGARPCDISRILQVS NG C V

GAGTMGATCTTGG~AOOTATTATOAOACCaaCTCTCTATCCGACCGCGAGCCATCGGAG~A~A~CCACGCGTAGCCACTCCGGA~T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SKILGRYYBTGSIRPRAIGGSKPRVATPEV

GGTCOOCMMTCOCCCAGTTGA~GAGTGCCCGTC~~TTCGCGT~GAGATCCGAGACAGACT~TG~AGAGGGCATCTGCAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VGKIAQF KRBCPSIFAWEIRDRLLSEGICT

CAACQATAACATCCCGAGTGTGTCATCCAT~CAGAGT~T~GA~CCTGGCG~~G~GC~CAGAT~GC~A~T~ATGTA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NDNIPSVSSINRVLRNLAB RKQQMQADGWY

TOAGMGCTGAGGATOCMMCaOACAQACAGACATOOOCACCC~CGG(3CTOOTACCCCGG~CCTCCGTOCCAGGACAGCCCAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BKLRMLNGQTGTWGTRPGWYPGTSVPGQPN

1069 TCMGATGGCTOCCA~AATCAOATGGAGGCGCC~GMCACCMCTCTATCAGCTCMA~GA~AC~AGMGM~CCAGATGAG 1081 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

QDGCQQSDGGABNTNSISSNGEDSEEAQMR

1159 1171

1249 1261

1339 1351

7 C~AGAGGMTCGCACATCTTTCACACACMGMC~TAGM~ACTAG~AGAG~G~GAAC~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LQLKRKLQRNRTSFTQBQIEALEKEFERTH

CTATCCAGACGTTTTCOCCCGAGA~GAC~~T~G~~~GACCTGCCGGAG~CAG~TACAGGTGTGGT~TCA~CAGAAGAGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . YPDVFARERLAAKIDLPIARIQVWFSNRRA

OAAGMGAGGAGAGAOaMMQCTACGMATCAMGACGACMGCCAACMClPCCACCAOTCCACCAGTCACATACCCAT~GTAGCAGTTTCA~AC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KWRRBEKiRNQRRQANNSTSHI PISSSFST

79 90

168 180

258 270

348 360

438 450

528 540

618 630

708 720

798 810

888 900

978 990

1068 1080

1158 1170

1248 1260

1338 1350

1428 1440

1429 MOCGTCTATCAGCCMTCCCTCAOCCMCCACACCACACCAGTGTCC~TAC~CAGGC~CA~~GGAC~~AGACACAGCCCTCACGM 1518 1441 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1530

SVYQPI PQPTTPVSFTSGSMLGRSDTALTN

1519 CACATACAGTOCCCTACCGCC~~C~~~CACCAT~CC~C~CCTGCCTATGC~GC~~CAGACCTCGTCTTACTCCTGCAT 1608 1531 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1620

TYSALPPWPSFTMANNLPMQASQTSS Y s c w

1609 ~TACCMCCAGTCCTTCAGTCMCGG~GGAGCTATGACACGTACACACCCCC~ACATGCAGGCACATATGMCAGCCAGTCGAT~C 1698 1621 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1710

LPTSPSVNGRSYDTYTPPHMQAHMNSQSMA

1699 CACCTCGOOCACAACCTCMCC)(30TCTMTC~~CCO 1788 1711 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

TSGTTSTGLIS PGVSVPVQVP GSEPDMSQY

1789 CTOOCCCAOATTACAOTCUA~~A~~~AG~AG~~~CG~~~A~C~A~CC~GCCTCCC~~CCTCCCTCTCA~C~CCGA~GC~G 1878 1801 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

WPRLQ*

1879 CTCTTCATCAGTA~CACCACACM~A~G~AGTCT~~ACCC~GT~T~~TGTACTGGGATAGTGCCACTTC~TA 1968 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1980

1969 OCG~CCATGGACACAMGAC~GMGMTCG~GAGMC~ACTCGA~T~GT~CCTGTGTTATATCGTTAMTMG 2053 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2065

FIG. 2.-Comparison of the nucleotide sequences and the deduced amino acid sequence of the Pax-6 cDNA clones “epigean 2-4” (epig.) and “cave 2-3” (cave). Identical nucleotides are indicated by dots. Gaps introduced are represented by dashes. The stop codon at the end of the coding region is marked by an asterisk. The boxed regions outline the N-terminal paired box and the central homeobox. The location of the alternative exon is indicated by the arrowhead. The nucleotide sequence data represented in this paper will appear in the EMBL, GenBank, and DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence databases under the accession numbers YO7548 (epigean 2-4) and Y07546 (cave 2-3).

304 Behrens et al.

A.f. 1 B.r. 1 W.m. 1

A.f. 101 Bar. 101 W.m. 62

I+ fishspecific N-terminus ‘1

- alternative exon -

WPQKBYYNRTTWBSGVA~QNSHSG~QLGGV~GRPLPDSTRQKIVB~SGARPCDISRILQTQADA~Q~D~NVSN~SKILGRYYBTGSIR . . . . . . . . . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

P~IGGSKPRVATPBWGKIAQFKRBCPSI~AWBIRD~LSBGICTNDNIPSVSSINR~~~BKQQMGADG~B~~NGQTG~GTRPG~PGTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S . . ..Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..D..........S . . . . . . . . . . . .

A.f. 201 VPGQPNQDGCQQSDGGABNTNSISSNGBDSBBAQMRLQLKR QRNRTsPTQBQIEALBKEPBRTHYPDVFARgRLILAI(IDRR

B.r. 201 ................ G ............. D.T ........................... ........................................ M.m. 182 ... ..T..........O ........... ..D I .....................................................................

A.f. 301 EB

3

RNQRRQANNSTSHIPISSSPSTSVYQPIPQPTTPV SFTSGSMLGRSDTALTNTYSUIPPMPSFTMANNLPMQ ASQTSSYSCMLPTSPSVNGR B.r. 301 . . . . . . . . . ..s..s........................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W.m. 282 . . . . . . . . . ..S.TP........................S . . . . . . . . . . T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PPV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A.f. 397 SYDTYTPPHMQAHMNSQSMATSGTTSTGLISPGVSVPVQVPGSBPDMSQYWPRLQ 451 B.r. 397 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 M.m. 382 . . . . . . . . . . . T . . . ..P.G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

FIG. 3.-Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of Astyanax fax&us (A.f.), zebrafish Bruchydunio rerio (B.r.), and mouse Mus musculus (M.m.). Dots indicate identical amino acids. The paired domain including the alternative exon and the homeodomain are boxed. The putative fish-specific N-terminus in the A.f. and B.r. sequences is indicated.

In 150-h-old fish larvae, the Pax-6 signal is re- stricted to the same cell layers as in the 5 l-h-old larvae, but the expression level is reduced (fig. 41 and .Z). Al- though the cave fish eye is already heavily degenerated, Pax-6 mRNA could be detected in the remaining cells of the neuroretina at a level that is comparable to that of the epigean form (fig. 4K and L).

Expression of Pax-6 mRNA in the Brain We have compared the pattern of Pax-6 mRNA ex-

pression in the brain of 30-h-old larvae of epigean and cave living A. fasciatus by in situ hybridization of cryostat sections taken at four different levels from rostra1 to caudal of the larval brain. The planes of sections a- d are indicated in the schematic overview of the larval head on figure 5.

The most rostra1 section (fig. 5a) passed through the anterior and posterior parts of the ventricle and in- cluded the prosencephalon with the olfactory bulbs and the prospective diencephalon, which surrounds the eyes. Pax-6 mRNA is expressed in the pair of olfactory bulbs (ob) and the prosencephalic site of the prosencephalonl mesencephalon boundary (dm). The next plane of section (fig. 5b) is located about 40 km more caudally. Expression in the olfactory bulbs has decreased and the hybridization signal at the prosencephalon/mesencephalon boundary is no longer visible. Additional Pax-6 mRNA expression appears in the prospective diencephalon (de). This zone of expression extends for more than 100 km caudally and can still be detected on the next plane of section (fig. 5~). A faint hybridization signal in the rhombencephalon is visible there and in the following plane of section (fig. 54. The expression of Pax-6 mRNA in the developing eye (e) can be detected in all sections and is low compared to that in most of the other brain regions. There were no significant differences in the pattern and strength of Pax-6 mRNA expression in the larval brain at 30 h of epigean and cave-living A. fascia tus.

Discussion Recent studies on the eye regression of cave-dwell-

ing A. fasciatus suggest that structural eye-specific genes

may have been inactivated during evolution (Langecker, Schmale, and Wilkens 1993; Yokoyama et al. 1995) but that, primarily, defects in developmental control genes are responsible for the cave phenotype (Wilkens 1988). We have thus studied Pax-6 sequence and expression in the developing eye of epigean and cave specimens. It has been shown that Pax-6 performs discrete functions in different cell types during all stages of eye differentiation and that this transcription factor may well be a mastxer control gene for eye development (Macdonald and Wilson 1996). At early stages of development, Pax- 6 may have a general role in controlling the growth of the optic vesicle; later it is required to specify the identity of retina and lens cell types. Even in the mature eye tissue, Pax-6 is still expressed and may affect the function of structural genes, such as crystallin genes which have been shown to contain Pax-6 binding sites in their promoter regions (Cvekl et al. 1995; Richardson, Cvekl, and Wistow 1995). Analysis of Sey mutant mice has indicated that reduced levels of Pax-6 protein do not affect specification of cells, but influence the size of the induced structure (Hogan et al. 1988). Inappropriate Pax-6 function could well explain the observations that in the cave fish (1) the growth rate and developmental timing of cytodifferentiation of the presumptive eye are already disturbed before any morphological degeneration is recognizable, (2) lens fiber cells do not develop correctly and crystallin gene expression is affected, and (3) the differentiation of photoreceptor cells is aborted (Langecker, Schmale, and Wilkens 1993). However, the present study clearly shows that a possibly reduced activity of the Pax-6 protein of cave-living fishes cannot be explained by a different primary structure because the predicted protein sequences of epigean and cave- living A. fasciatus are identical. Furthermore, a comparison with the zebrafish Pax-6 indicates that there are no obvious mutations that generally could render the A. fasciatus protein less active. The spatial expression of Pax-6 mRNA in the developing brain and eye is not altered in the cave fish and is in accordance with those reported for other vertebrates (Strachan and Read 1994).


ratio of the short and long forms due to a splice site mutation leads to a defined disease phenotype of eye- related structures (Epstein et al. 1994). The ratio of the two splice variants involving the paired-box alternative exon in the developing eye of epigean and cave-living A. fasciatus is not known, and the characterization of the splice sites has to await cloning of the chromosomal genes.

During the long-term process of evolution of the vertebrate eye, many genes were recruited and fine- tuned to fulfill their specific functions. Although regressive evolution of the eye took place on a shorter time scale, it most likely involves the alteration of several gene functions. Further investigations are necessary to elucidate the types of mutations which have occured during regressive evolution and to identify the target genes.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Drs. C. Walther and l? Gruss for the gift of a cDNA probe of the mouse Pax-6 gene. We thank D. Feist for much appreciated technical assistance and W. Kullmann and S. Harder from the service laboratory of the Institut fur Zellbiochemie und klinische Neurobiologie for the synthesis of oligonucleotides and DNA sequencing.

LITERATURE CITED

BOPP, D., M. BURRI, S. BAUMGARTNER, G. FRIGERIO, and M. NOLL. 1986. Conservation of a large protein domain in the segmentation gene paired and in functionally related genes of Drosophila. Cell 47: 1033-1040.

CVEKL, A., E KASHANCHI, C. M. SAX, J. N. BRADY, and J. PIATIGORSKY. 1995. Transcriptional regulation of the mouse aA-crystallin gene: activation dependent on a cyclic AMP- responsive element (DEl/CRE) and a Pax-6-binding site. Mol. Cell. Biol. 15:653-660.

EPSTEIN, J. A., T. GLASER, J. CAI, L. JEPEAL, D. S. WALTON, and R. L. MAAS. 1994. Two independent and interactive DNA-binding subdomains of the Pax6 paired domain are regulated by alternative splicing. Genes Dev. 8:2022-2034.

FEINBERG, A. l?, and B. VOGELSTEIN. 1983. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal. Biochem. 1326-13.

GLASER, T., D. S. WALTON, and R. L. MAAS. 1992. Genomic structure, evolutionary conservation and aniridia mutations in the human PAX6 gene. Nat. Genet. 2:232-239.

HALDER, G., l? CALLAERTS, and W. J. GEHRING. 1995. New perspectives on eye evolution. Cm-r. Opin. Genet. Dev. 5: 602-609.

HANSON, I. M., J. M. FLETCHER, T JORDAN, A. BROWN, D. TAYLOR, R. J. ADAMS, H. H. PUNNETT, and V. VAN HEY- NINGEN. 1994. Mutations at the PAX6 locus are found in heterogeneous anterior segment malformations including Peters’ anomaly. Nat. Genet. 6: 168-173.

HERRMANN, B. G., and A.-M. FRISCHAUF. 1987. Isolation of genomic DNA. Pp. 180-183 in S. L. BERGER and A. R. KIMMEL, eds. Methods in enzymology: guide to molecular cloning techniques. Academic Press, San Diego, Calif.

HILL, R. E., J. FAVOR, B. L. M. HOGAN, C. C. T. TON, G. E SAUNDERS, I. M. HANSON, J. PROSSER, T. JORDAN, N. HAS- TIE, and V. VAN HEYNINGEN. 1991. Mouse small eye results

from mutations in a paired-like homeobox-containing gene. Nature 354522-525.

HOGAN, B. L. M., E. M. A. HIRST, G. HORSBURGH, and C. M. HETHERINGTON. 1988. Small eye (Sey): a mouse model for the genetic analysis of craniofacial abnormalities. Devel- opment 103:115-l 19.

HOGAN, B. L. M., G. HORSBURGH, J. COHEN, C. M. HETHER- INGTON, G. FISHER, and M. E LYON. 1986. Small eyes (Sey): a homozygous lethal mutation on chromosome 2 which af- fects the differentiation of both lens and nasal placodes in the mouse. J. Embryol. Exp. Morphol. 97:95-110.

LANGECKER, T. G., H. SCHMALE, and H. WILKENS. 1993. Tran- scription of the opsin gene in degenerate eyes of cave- dwelling Astyanax fasciatus (Teleostei, Characidae) and of its conspecific epigean ancestor during early ontogeny. Cell Tissue Res. 273: 183-192.

LANGECKER, T. G., H. WILKENS, and H. SCHMALE. 1995. De- velopmental constraints in regressive evolution: studies of the expression of the y,-crystallin gene in the developing lens of cave-dwelling Astyanax fasciatus (Cuvier, 1819) (Teleostei, Characidae) by in situ hybridization. J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 33:123-128.

MACDONALD, R., and S. W. WILSON. 1996. Pax proteins and eye development. Cum Opin. Neurobiol. 6:49-56.

MARTIN, I?, C. CARRIERE, C. DOZIER, B. QUATANNENS, M.-A. MIRABEL, B. VANDENBUNDER, D. STEHELIN, and S. SAULE. 1992. Characterization of a paired box- and homeobox-con- taming quail gene (Pax-QNR) expressed in neuroretina. On- cogene 7:1721-1728.

MATSUO, T., N. OSUMI-YAMASHITA, S. NOJI et al. (14 co-authors). 1993. A mutation in the pax-6 gene in rat small eye is associated with impaired migration of midbrain crest cells. Nat. Genet. 3:299-303.

MIRZAYANS, E, W. G. PEARCE, I. M. MACDONALD, and M. A. WALTER. 1995. Mutation of the PAX6 gene in patients with autosomal dominant keratitis. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 57:539- 548.

MITCHELL, R. W., W. H. RUSSEL, and W. R. ELLIOT. 1977. Mexican eyeless characin fishes, genus Astyanax: environment, distribution, and evolution. Spec. Publ. Mus. Texas. Tech. Univ. 12: l-89.

P~~SCHEL, A. W., I? GRUSS, and M. WESTERFIELD. 1992. Se- quence and expression pattern of pax-6 are highly conserved between zebrafish and mice. Development 114:643- 651.

QUIRING, R., U. WALLDORF, U. KLOTER, and W. J. GEHRING. 1994. Homology of the eyeless gene of Drosophila to the small eye gene in mice and aniridia in humans. Science 265:785-789.

RICHARDSON, J., A. CVEKL, and G. WISTOW. 1995. Pax-6 is essential for lens-specific expression of c-crystallin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:4676-4680.

SAMBROOK, J., E. E FRITSCH, and T. MANIATIS. 1989. Molec- ular cloning. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.

SCHEDL, A., A. Ross, M. LEE, D. ENGELKAMP, l? RASHBASS, V. VAN HEYNINGEN, and N. D. HASTIE. 1996. Influence of PAX6 gene dosage on development: overexpression causes severe eye abnormalities. Cell 86:71-82.

STRACHAN, T., and A. l? READ. 1994. PAX genes. Cur-r. Opin. Genet. Dev. 4:427-438.

TON, C. C. T., H. HIRVONEN, H. MIWA et al. (15 co-authors). 1991. Positional cloning and characterization of a paired box- and homeobox-containing gene from aniridia region. Cell 67: 1059-1074.

308 Behrens et al.

WALTHER, C., and I? GRUSS. 1991. Pax-6, a murine paired box YOKOYAMA, S., A. MEANY, H. WILKENS, and R. YOKOYAMA. gene, is expressed in the developing CNS. Development 1995. Initial mutational steps toward loss of opsin gene 113: 1435-1449. function in cavefish. Mol. Biol. Evol. 12527-532.

WILKENS, H. 1988. Evolution and genetics of epigean and cave Astyanax fasciatus (Characidae, Pisces). Evol. Biol. 23:

SHOZO YOKOYAMA, reviewing editor

27 l-367. Accepted November 25, 1996