Cloning and roles of goldfish maternal factor β-Catenin cDNA in embryonic development

Interaction between nucleus and cytoplasm has been focused in the field of animal embryonic development, in which study of maternal factors is required positively. β-Catenin, an important maternal factor in early embryogenesis, has been analyzed in its expression pattern and functions in this paper. We have cloned goldfish β-Catenin cDNA gene and compared it with zebrafish β-Catenin cDNA. High homology was found in cDNA and in amino acid sequences between them, 93% (2227/2384 bp) and 98.5% (768/780 aa) respectively. The expression pattern of β-Catenin by in situ hybridization and the roles of β-Catenin on embryonic development by co-injection of anti-sense RNA and reporter gene, EGFP have been investigated in the whole process of goldfish embryonic development. The results suggest that β-Catenin presents dynamic distribution, mainly locates at body axis, dorsal tissues, head and tail structures after being fertilized. The loss of β-Catenin activity would cause serious destruction of embryo in dorsal tissues and in anteroposterior axes, and leads embryos to die before larva get hatched.