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Title: PAX6 protein in neuromasts of the lateral line system of salamanders (Eurycea)
PAX6 is well known as a transcription factor that drives eye development in animals as widely divergent as flies and mammals. In addition to its localization in eyes, PAX6 expression has been reported in the central nervous system, the pancreas, testes, Merkel cells, nasal epithelium, developing cells of the inner ear, and embryonic submandibular salivary gland. Here we show that PAX6 also appears to be present in the mechanosensory neuromasts of the lateral line system in paedomorphic salamanders of the genusEurycea. Using immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy to examine a limited number of larvae of two species, listed by the United States of America’s federal government as threatened (E.nana) or endangered (E.rathbuni), we found that anti-PAX6 antibody labeled structures that were extranuclear, and labeling was most intense in the apical appendages of the hair cells of the neuromast. This extranuclear localization raises the possibility of an as yet undescribed function for PAX6 as a cytoskeleton-associated protein.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2032633 2032632
PAR ID:
10549011
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Abo-Al-Ela, Haitham
Publisher / Repository:
Public Library of Science
Date Published:
Journal Name:
PLOS ONE
Volume:
19
Issue:
8
ISSN:
1932-6203
Page Range / eLocation ID:
e0293163
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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