GENES AND PROTEINS INVOLVED IN FORMATION OF VITAL ORGANS DURING DEVELOPMENT OF ZEBRAFISH WHEN EXPOSED TO DELTAMETHRIN

Kuder Reshma Shabnam*, Dharmapuri Gangappa and Gundala Harold Philip*

ABSTRACT

Characterization of a protein of interest during development is essential for functional studies. A general strategy for understanding the function of a particular protein involves the generation of null mutations, or treatment with drugs, that interfere with its activity. To demonstrate that the synthesis, stability, or activity of a protein has been affected, accurate and efficient detection of low amounts of protein is essential. This can be achieved by immuno histochemistry or by western blot. Here we describe a method for the detection of proteins from single de-yolked zebrafish embryos. This procedure includes a fixation step and the concomitant elimination of lipids from the yolk cell. We show that this approach allows the rapid analysis of proteins in embryos without having to manually remove the yolk. This method provides a convenient alternative for genotyping of mutant embryos as early as the 128 cell stage. In addition, in drug- or morpholino-treated embryos, the correlation between the penetrance of a phenotype and the concentration of a protein present may be established.

Keywords: Deltamethrin (DM), Zebrafish, no tail (ntl), floating head (flh), syu (syu) and doc (doc).