SpFGFR, a new member of the fibroblast growth factor receptor family, is developmentally regulated during early sea urchin development.

We describe the cloning of a new fibroblast growth factor receptor, SpFGFR1, that is differentially regulated at the level of transcript abundance during sea urchin embryogenesis. Sequence representing the conserved tyrosine kinase domain was obtained by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using degenerate primers, and the entire open reading frame was obtained by standard cDNA library screening methods. SpFGFR contains a series of domains characteristic of FGFRs: three immunoglobulin-like motifs, an acid box, a transmembrane domain, a relatively long juxtamembrane sequence, a split tyrosine kinase domain, and two conserved intracellular tyrosine residues. Alternative splicing of SpFGFR generates two variants (Ig3L and Ig3S), which differ by insertion in the center of the Ig3 domain of 34 extra amino acids, encoded by an additional exon. Transcripts encoding both variants accumulate when morphogenesis begins with mesenchyme cell ingression and gastrulation. SpFGFR transcripts accumulate in all cell types of the embryo, although in situ hybridization shows that they are somewhat enriched in cells of oral ectoderm and endoderm. Transcripts encoding the Ig3S variant, whose structure resembles more closely that of vertebrate receptors, are enriched in endomesoderm, suggesting that the SpFGFR variants could play distinct roles in the sea urchin embryo.