IGF2BP1 is required for hepatic outgrowth during early liver development in zebrafish

IGF2BPs, a subclass of RNA-binding proteins, regulate cellular differentiation, proliferation and migration during mutiple organs development, but its function still remains unclear. Here, we provide the in vivo evidence that Igf2bp1 is pivotal during liver development by using zebrafish as a model organism. Whole-mount in situ hybridization showed that igf2bp1 was highly expressed in liver, and the morpholino knockdown had no effect on hepatoblast differentiation, but the liver size was significantly reduced. Data from microarray analysis indicated that the hepatic outgrowth defect in igf2bp1 konckdown embroys could be attributed to the significantly down-regulated of several important genes related to liver development, such as epo, cxcl8, socs1a, uox, ripk1, itgb1 and arhgef7. Besides, the igf2bp1Δ5 mutant, obtained by CRISPR/Cas9, showed the same phenotype with morpholino knockdown. Altogether, our researchs demonstrate that Igf2bp1 is a critical regulator during liver development by modulating several genes related to hepatic outgrowth. The Zebrafish (V3) Gene Expression Microarray (4 x 44K, Agilent Technologies) was carried out to screen the differentially expressed gene between igf2bp1 morpholino and standard control embryos at 72 hpf.