Developmental expression of three prmt genes in Xenopus.

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) are involved in many cellular processes via the arginine methylation of histone or non-histone proteins. We examined the expression patterns of prmt4, prmt7, and prmt9 during embryogenesis in Xenopus using whole-mount in situ hybridization and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Xenopus prmt4 and prmt7 were expressed in the neural crest, brain, and spinal cord, and also detected in the eye, branchial arches, and heart at the tailbud stage. Specific prmt9 signals were not detected in Xenopus embryos until the late tailbud stage when weak expression was observed in the branchial arches. Quantitative RT-PCR indicated that the expressions of prmt4 and prmt7 were up-regulated during the neurula stage, whereas prmt9 maintained its low expression until the late tailbud stage, consistent with the whole-mount in situ hybridization results. Thus, the developmental expression patterns of these three prmt genes in Xenopus embryos provide a basis for further functional study of such genes.