kitlga kit ligand a [Danio rerio (zebrafish)] - Gene

Summary

Official Symbol: kitlgaprovided by ZNC
Official Full Name: kit ligand aprovided by ZNC
Primary source: ZFIN:ZDB-GENE-070424-1
See related: Ensembl:ENSDARG00000070917 AllianceGenome:ZFIN:ZDB-GENE-070424-1
Gene type: protein coding
RefSeq status: PROVISIONAL
Organism: Danio rerio
Lineage: Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi; Actinopterygii; Neopterygii; Teleostei; Ostariophysi; Cypriniformes; Danionidae; Danioninae; Danio
Also known as: kitla
Summary: Predicted to enable cytokine activity and stem cell factor receptor binding activity. Acts upstream of or within melanocyte differentiation. Predicted to be located in several cellular components, including extracellular region; filopodium; and lamellipodium. Predicted to be active in plasma membrane. Is expressed in several structures, including digestive system; endocrine system; muscle; neural crest cell; and segmental plate. Human ortholog(s) of this gene implicated in Waardenburg syndrome; autosomal dominant nonsyndromic deafness 69; familial progressive hyperpigmentation with or without hypopigmentation; and pigmentation disease. Orthologous to human KITLG (KIT ligand). [provided by Alliance of Genome Resources, Jul 2025]
Orthologs: human mouse all
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Genomic context

Location:: chromosome: 25

Exon count:: 10

Annotation release	Status	Assembly	Chr	Location
RS_2025_04	current	GRCz12tu (GCF_049306965.1)	25	NC_133200.1 (19090253..19113947, complement)
RS_2024_08	previous assembly	GRCz11 (GCF_000002035.6)	25	NC_007136.7 (18118906..18140534, complement)

Chromosome 25 - NC_133200.1 Genomic Context describing neighboring genes

Genomic regions, transcripts, and products

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Genomic Sequence:

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Expression

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See details

Project title: Sequencing the Zebrafish transcriptome from a range of tissues and developmental stages
Description: Sequencing the Zebrafish transcriptome from a range of tissues and developmental stages
BioProject: PRJEB1986
Analysis date: Fri Dec 8 19:48:10 2017

Bibliography

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GeneRIFs: Gene References Into Functions

What's a GeneRIF?

Zebrafish Kit ligands cooperate with erythropoietin to promote erythroid cell expansion.
Title: Zebrafish Kit ligands cooperate with erythropoietin to promote erythroid cell expansion.
kit ligand a expression from skin and osteoblasts results in more modest and variable rescue of melanocytes, while lateral line expression was unable to complement the mutation
Title: Clonal analysis of kit ligand a functional expression reveals lineage-specific competence to promote melanocyte rescue in the mutant regenerating caudal fin.
Cyclic AMP suppresses the expression of kitlga in zebrafish ovarian follicle cells.
Title: Differential regulation of kit ligand A (kitlga) expression in the zebrafish ovarian follicle cells--evidence for the existence of a cyclic adenosine 3', 5' monophosphate-mediated binary regulatory system during folliculogenesis.
IGF-I-induced kitlga expression is inhibited by epidermal growth factor, an oocyte-derived paracrine factor in the zebrafish follicle.
Title: Differential regulation of Kit ligand A expression in the ovary by IGF-I via different pathways.
strong evidence for a Kit-mediated bi-directional communication system in the zebrafish ovarian follicle
Title: Spatial distribution and receptor specificity of zebrafish Kit system--evidence for a Kit-mediated bi-directional communication system in the preovulatory ovarian follicle.
The regeneration defect in kita mutants is not due to defects in melanocyte stem cells recruitment or in the proliferation, differentiation or survival of the daughter cells, but is instead due to a defect in stem cell establishment.
Title: Kit signaling is involved in melanocyte stem cell fate decisions in zebrafish embryos.

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General gene information

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Gene Ontology Provided by ZFIN

Function	Evidence Code	Pubs
enables cytokine activity	IBA Inferred from Biological aspect of Ancestor more info
enables growth factor activity	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
enables stem cell factor receptor binding	IBA Inferred from Biological aspect of Ancestor more info
enables stem cell factor receptor binding	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info

Process	Evidence Code	Pubs
acts_upstream_of_or_within cell adhesion	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
acts_upstream_of_or_within melanocyte differentiation	IDA Inferred from Direct Assay more info	PubMed
acts_upstream_of_or_within melanocyte differentiation	IGI Inferred from Genetic Interaction more info	PubMed
acts_upstream_of_or_within melanocyte differentiation	IMP Inferred from Mutant Phenotype more info	PubMed
involved_in positive regulation of cell population proliferation	IBA Inferred from Biological aspect of Ancestor more info

Component	Evidence Code	Pubs
located_in cell projection	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in cytoplasm	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in cytoskeleton	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in extracellular region	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in filopodium	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in lamellipodium	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
located_in membrane	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info
is_active_in plasma membrane	IBA Inferred from Biological aspect of Ancestor more info
located_in plasma membrane	IEA Inferred from Electronic Annotation more info

General protein information

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Preferred Names: kit ligand a

Names: slk

NP_001018133.1

EC 3.2.1.31

XP_005163068.1

EC 3.2.1.31

NCBI Reference Sequences (RefSeq)

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RefSeqs maintained independently of Annotated Genomes

These reference sequences exist independently of genome builds. Explain

These reference sequences are curated independently of the genome annotation cycle, so their versions may not match the RefSeq versions in the current genome build. Identify version mismatches by comparing the version of the RefSeq in this section to the one reported in Genomic regions, transcripts, and products above.