Spatiotemporal expression of the dermatopontin gene in zebrafish Danio rerio

There has been significant interest in the expression and function of dermatopontin (DPT) in mammals owing to recent evidence pointing to its critical role in collagen fibrillogenesis. Despite this interest, limited information is available about the site/s of DPT mRNA expression or changes in expression in vivo. We used reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization to evaluate the spatial and temporal pattern of DPT mRNA expression in zebrafish, Danio rerio, a widely used vertebrate model. We observed that DPT transcripts were expressed in zebrafish embryos at all developmental stages in a range of tissues, including the brain and optic neuron cells. Based on our results, we hypothesize that DPT may also play a role in neural functions in vivo.

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► We characterized the zebrafish dermatopontin gene and its spatiotemporal expression.
► We highlighted the similarity of the dermatopontin between zebrafish and mammals.
► Dermatopontin mRNA was expressed in the zebrafish brain and optic neuron cells.
► A hypothesized role of dermatopontin in neural function in vivo was proposed.