Embryonic expression of p68, a DEAD-box RNA helicase, in the oligochaete annelid Tubifex tubifex

We have cloned and characterized the expression of a p68 homologue (designated Ttu-p68) from the oligochaete annelid Tubifex tubifex. Ttu-p68 mRNA is distributed broadly throughout the early stages. Ttu-p68 is expressed in all of the early blastomeres, in which Ttu-p68 RNA associates with pole plasms. Ttu-p68 transcripts are concentrated to 4d cell but not to 2d cell. During gastrulation, expression of Ttu-p68 is restricted to elongating germ bands (GBs) and an anteriormost crescent of micromere descendants on both sides of the embryo. During body elongation that follows gastrulation, expression of Ttu-p68 is further restricted to the stomodaeum (derived from the micromere crescent), ventral ganglia, lateral dots (corresponding to dorsal and ventral setal sacs), ventral large cells (that resemble presumptive primordial germ cells) in segments VIII–XII, and a bilateral pair of cell clusters at the caudal end. At the end of embryogenesis, Ttu-p68 expression persists exclusively in the tail and the lining epithelium of the pharynx.