2018/05/14 by Tao Zhou, Ning Li, Yulin Jin +13 · 1 citation
Immunology and Microbiology · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Aquaculture disease management and microbiota #Zebrafish Biomedical Research Applications #T-cell and B-cell Immunology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1718603115
openalex publication_date 2018/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Significance Barbels are important sensory organs for food seeking of teleosts, reptiles, and amphibians, but the molecular basis of barbel development is unknown. Here, we exploited the barbel-less bottlenose catfish as a natural model to determine the genomic basis for barbel development. Through a series of comparative analyses using genome and transcriptome datasets, a chemokine gene, ccl33 , was identified as a key regulator of barbel development. Its knockout in zebrafish led to the loss of barbels, further supporting the roles of ccl33 for barbel development. These findings demand functional studies of chemokines as key developmental, as well as immune, regulators.