Developmental expression of the myelin gene MOBP in the rat nervous system

The myelin-associated/oligodendrocyte basic proteins (MOBPs) are recently discovered constituents of myelin and are small, cytoplasmic, and highly basic proteins exclusively expressed postnatally by oligodendrocytes. Due to a clustering of positively charged amino acids observed in the most abundant MOBP isoform similar to myelin basic protein (MBP) and P0, it was speculated that MOBP could function in myelin sheath compaction. The present report strongly supports this view. A direct comparison of MBP and proteolipid protein (PLP) gene expression with that of MOBP by in situ hybridization revealed a very similar regional distribution. It was found that MOBP expression was abundant in the rat CNS at postnatal day 15 (P 15) but is restricted to densely myelinated regions. In contrast to MBP and PLP, expression of MOBP was undetectable in the peripheral nervous system during the entire development. Interestingly, MOBP mRNA was localized in oligodendrocyte processes even at early postnatal stages and throughout development. MOBP showed a very specific timing of expression: in spinal cord and brain, MOBP gene expression occurred significantly later (2–3 days) than that of MBP and PLP, but slightly earlier than myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein gene expression. MOBP proteins appeared in spinal cord and brain stem also after MBP protein, suggesting that the MOBPs functionally act after the structural myelin proteins MBP and PLP. Our findings imply a function of MOBP during the late steps of myelin formation, presumably at the initiation of sheath compaction.