Analyzing the role of her1 3'UTR cis-elements in her1 post-transcriptional expression

Abstract

Disruptions in early developmental patterning events lead to serious phenotypes and malformations such as fused or missing ribs and vertebrae. In vertebrates, ribs and vertebrae are developed from a tissue called somites during development. Somite formation is regulated by periodic expression of a group of genes called segmentation clock genes, and oscillatory expression of clock genes including Hes/her gene are needed for proper somite patterning. Previous studies indicated that her1 3'UTR cis-elements are required for reporter transcript decay. To identify the role of ARE and PRE on endogenous her1 expression, we successfully mutated her1 3'UTR using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, and this mutation may disrupt her1 expression and myoD expression in F0 crispant embryos, which may imply that sequences in the her1 3'UTR are important in endogenous her1 post-transcriptional regulation and somitogenesis.