Expression profile of the RNA-binding protein gene hermes during chicken embryonic development.

The hermes gene encodes an RNA-binding protein containing an RNA-recognition motif. Its expression has been described previously in Xenopus and in the developing heart of very young chicken embryos. We have analyzed the expression of cHermes in later heart development, where expression is maintained in the myocardium, and also in previously undescribed sites. cHermes expression first appears in the somites in the first terminally differentiated myocytes of both the epaxial and the hypaxial myotome. Expression is also seen in the primordium of the allantois and continues in the developing allantoic sac. cHermes expression in the pronephric and mesonephric kidneys coincides temporally and spatially with the appearance of the vascular components of the glomeruli. In addition, cHermes expression was seen in the mesoderm of the gut and in the notochord.