One of the most important and defining processes during development is the
pattern formation of the various compartments in embryos. In an effort to
discover the participants involved in regulating compartment size, we
identified, in Danio rerio (zebrafish) embryos, the ankyrin repeat and
SOCS box-containing protein 11 (d-asb11) gene. We first showed that
d-Asb11 is a key mediator of Delta-Notch Signaling, acting at the level of
DeltaA ubiquitylation, important in fine-tuning the lateral inhibition
gradients between DeltaA and Notch. We, then, isolated a zebrafish having
a germline deletion of the d-Asb11 cullin box subdomain and showed that
this deletion resulted in loss of d-Asb11 activity. As a consequence, the
animals were defective for Notch signaling and proper cell fate
specification within the neurogenic regions of zebrafish embryos. We also
provided evidence that d-Asb11 is important in maintaining myogenic
proliferation in the stem cell compartment of zebrafish embryos and muscle
regenerative responses in adult animals. This finding is supported by the
highly specific d-Asb11 expression found in proliferating satellite cells
in zebrafish muscle. In addition, we have applied immunoaffinity
chromatograpy followed by tandem mass spectrometry to identify human ASB11
interacting proteins. The data confirmed the role of ASB11 as a
subs
