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First published on September 10, 2008; DOI: 10.1124/mol.108.050435

0026-895X/08/7406-1544-1553$20.00
Mol Pharmacol 74:1544-1553, 2008

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Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Mediated Down-Regulation of Sox9b Causes Jaw Malformation in Zebrafish Embryos

Kong M. Xiong, Richard E. Peterson, and Warren Heideman

Departments of Biomolecular Chemistry (K.M.X., W.H.) and Pharmaceutical Sciences (R.E.P., W.H.), University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Exposure to environmental contaminants can disrupt normal development of the early vertebrate skeleton. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) impairs craniofacial skeletal development across many vertebrate species, and its effects are especially prominent in early life stages of fish. TCDD activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, a transcription factor that mediates most if not all TCDD responses. We investigated the transcriptional response in the developing zebrafish jaw after TCDD exposure using DNA microarrays. Zebrafish larvae were exposed to TCDD at 96 h after fertilization, and jaw cartilage tissue was harvested for microarray analysis at 1, 2, 4, and 12 h after exposure. Numerous chondrogenic transcripts were misregulated by TCDD in the jaw. Comparison of transcripts altered by TCDD in jaw with transcripts altered in embryonic heart showed that the transcriptional responses in the jaw and the heart were strikingly different. Sox9b, a critical chondrogenic transcription factor, was the most significantly reduced transcript in the jaw. We hypothesized that the TCDD reduction of sox9b expression plays an integral role in affecting the formation of the embryonic jaw. Morpholino knockdown of sox9b expression demonstrated that partial reduction of sox9b expression alone was sufficient to produce a TCDD-like jaw phenotype. Loss of a single copy of the sox9b gene in sox9b(+/-) heterozygotes increased sensitivity to jaw malformation by TCDD. Finally, embryos injected with sox9b mRNA and then exposed to TCDD blocked TCDD-induced jaw toxicity in approximately 14% of sox9b-injected embryos. These results suggest that reduced sox9b expression in TCDD-exposed zebrafish embryos contributes to jaw malformation.

Received July 10, 2008; accepted September 2, 2008

Address correspondence to: Dr. Warren Heideman, School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin, 777 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705. E-mail: wheidema{at}fwisc.edu




This article has been cited by other articles:


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 Toxicol SciHome page
T. C. King Heiden, J. Spitsbergen, W. Heideman, and R. E. Peterson
Persistent Adverse Effects on Health and Reproduction Caused by Exposure of Zebrafish to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin During Early Development and Gonad Differentiation
Toxicol. Sci., May 1, 2009; 109(1): 75 - 87.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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