Chromosome 21 Open Reading Frame 59 (C21orf59)

The role of PKD2 and C21ORF59 in patterning the left-right axis of the zebrafish embryo. Pkd2 is acting both from the mouse node and zebrafish Kupffer's vesicle (KV) to affect left-right axis determination, the mouse model proposes a role for pkd2 in the activation of asymmetric nodal signaling and the fish places pkd2 in a pathway to restrict asymmetric genes to the left side. Kurly embryos display similar defects in left-right patterning but are mutant for the novel gene, c21orf59 . C21orf59 localizes to the basal body of the cilium in Chlamydomonas , and fish mutant for this gene exhibit a range of defects in cilia motility.Since c21orf59 mutant embryos have a mixture of motile and immotile cilia, mutations in this gene should provide new insight into the role of fluid flow in generating the correct left-right axis.