The β isoform of phospholipase C (PLCβ) is crucial for the modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity. As a bilaterally symmetrical animal with the earliest emergence of three germ layers, the planarian (Dugesia japonica) is an important model organism for studying the mechanisms of development and evolution. To explore the expression theDjPLCβ4gene during the embryonic development, theDjPLCβ4cDNA ofD. japonicawas obtained by RACE and RT-PCR. The expression pattern ofDjPLCβ4gene was detected by whole-mountin situhybridization. The results demonstrated that theDjPLCβ4gene was 3 245 bp in length and encoding 969 amino acids. The result of phylogenetic analysis showed that the planarian DjPLCβ4 might be the archetype of the bilateral species.DjPLCβ4gene expressed in the embryonic pharynx and germ band at the stage 3 of embryonic development. Along with the embryonic development, the number ofDjPLCβ4-positive embryonic cells was increased and mainly distributed in the neurons blastema, the nervous system regions and the brain of the fully hatched larvae and intact animals. These results suggested that theDjPLCβ4gene participates in the formation and differentiation of the neural primordium during the embryonic development of planarian.
