Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 476, August 2021, Pages 314-327
Developmental Biology

Immunoglobulin superfamily receptor Junctional adhesion molecule 3 (Jam3) requirement for melanophore survival and patterning during formation of zebrafish stripes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2021.04.007Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Junctional adhesion molecule 3b (Jam3b) required for adult pigmentation in zebrafish.

  • Acts in melanophores to promote adhesion and survival.

  • Cascading effects on other pigment cells.

  • Overlapping and non-overlapping functions with similar adhesion receptor Igsf11.

  • Broad tissue expression and additional requirements in fin and eye.

Abstract

Adhesive interactions are essential for tissue patterning and morphogenesis yet difficult to study owing to functional redundancies across genes and gene families. A useful system in which to dissect roles for cell adhesion and adhesion-dependent signaling is the pattern formed by pigment cells in skin of adult zebrafish, in which stripes represent the arrangement of neural crest derived melanophores, cells homologous to melanocytes. In a forward genetic screen for adult pattern defects, we isolated the pissarro (psr) mutant, having a variegated phenotype of spots, as well as defects in adult fin and lens. We show that psr corresponds to junctional adhesion protein 3b (jam3b) encoding a zebrafish orthologue of the two immunoglobulin-like domain receptor JAM3 (JAM-C), known for roles in adhesion and signaling in other developing tissues, and for promoting metastatic behavior of human and murine melanoma cells. We found that zebrafish jam3b is expressed post-embryonically in a variety of cells including melanophores, and that jam3b mutants have defects in melanophore survival. Jam3b supported aggregation of cells in vitro and was required autonomously by melanophores for an adherent phenotype in vivo. Genetic analyses further indicated both overlapping and non-overlapping functions with the related receptor, Immunoglobulin superfamily 11 (Igsf11) and Kit receptor tyrosine kinase. These findings suggest a model for Jam3b function in zebrafish melanophores and hint at the complexity of adhesive interactions underlying pattern formation.

Keywords

Zebrafish
Pigment pattern
Melanophore
Iridophore
Cell adhesion
JAM3

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1

Current addresses, Biology Department, Rhode Island College, Providence, Rhode Island.