Identification and characterization of Veph, a novel gene encoding a PH domain-containing protein expressed in the developing central nervous system of vertebrates.

We isolated Veph, a novel gene encoding a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain-containing protein from a mouse. Veph was strongly expressed in the embryonic brain, and its expression level gradually decreased in later stages. In situ hybridization analysis of sectioned embryo brains revealed that Veph was expressed exclusively in the ventricular zone. We then isolated a zebrafish orthologue of Veph (zVeph). As observed in the mouse gene, zVeph was expressed in the ventricular zone of developing brain and spinal cord. Blockage of zVeph expression by injection of zVeph-specific morpholino antisense oligo into zebrafish fertilized eggs resulted in a defect in the midbrain-hindbrain boundary and otic vesicle formation, suggesting the important function of zVeph in central nervous system (CNS) development. On the other hand, homozygous knockout mice of Veph showed no significant defect in the CNS, pointing to possible different functions of Veph between the zebrafish and mouse.