Xenopus protein O-fucosyltransferase 1 (XPOFUT1) is important for axial patterning

Protein O-fucosyltransferase 1 (POFUT1) catalyzes the addition of O-fucose to a number of cell surface and secreted proteins containing EGF-like repeats. Drosophila and mouse POFUT1 play crucial roles for modulating notch signaling, and mouse embryos lacking POFUT1 show severe defects in somitogenesis, vasculogenesis, cardiogenesis and neurogenesis. We isolated a cDNA encoding putative protein O-fucosyltransferase from Xenopus laevis and named this cDNA as XPOFUT1 based on the sequence homology and functional conservation with human POFUT1. XPOFUT1 is expressed maternally and zygotically. During gastrula stages, it is expressed around the blastopore lip. During tailbud and tadpole stages, the expression of XPOFUT1 is restricted to the brain, eye, branchial arches, pronephros and somites. In order to study the roles of XPOFUT1, we designed a morpholino antisense oligonucleotide (MO) against XPOFUT1. Injection of XPOFUT1 MO caused anterior and posterior truncation of body axis. Our results suggest that XPOFUT1 plays important roles in axial patterning during Xenopus development.