Cloning and characterization of the sympathetic nervous system mutant, Sym3, in zebrafish

9541 Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is a neural crest tumor manifesting in the adrenal gland and the sympathetic ganglia. The goal of this project was to use the zebrafish model to identify genes involved in the development of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system (PSNS). We used the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the cervical sympathetic ganglion (cervical complex, CC), as a marker for PSNS development. TH expression can be observed by whole-mount RNA in situ hybridization in 2–3-day zebrafish embryos in the CC. Methods: In an ethyl nitrosourea mutagenesis screen for mutations that affect PSNS development, we identified a putative mutant, Sym3, showing a change in modeling of the TH staining cells in the region of the CC. Results and Conclusion: The TH-positive cells were scattered rather than conglomerated together as is typical of cells in the normal CC. The mutant was also characterized by a “curly-tail” phenotype. After the mutation was recovered from the F3 generation, heterozygous p...