Nature 2001 Apr 12;4106830:830-4. doi: 10.1038/35071103.

Arkadia enhances nodal-related signalling to induce mesendoderm.

???displayArticle.abstract???
Nodal-related members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta family regulate the induction of mesoderm, endoderm, and mesendoderm, a tissue specific to the Spemann organizer. How these different tissues form in response to the same signalling molecules is not completely understood. It has been suggested that concentration-dependent effects, mediated by extracellular cofactors and antagonists, are responsible for the differences. Here we show that the nuclear protein Arkadia specifically potentiates the mesendoderm-inducing activity of a subset of TGF-beta family members. The combined activities of Arkadia and Xenopus nodal-related-1 are sufficient to induce mesendoderm and suppress mesoderm. Arkadia dorsalizes ventral tissues, resulting in the induction of organizer-specific gene expression. Blocking nodal signalling extracellularly inhibits these effects. Arkadia influences nodal activity when co-expressed and can function in cells adjacent to those producing the nodal signal. Our findings, together with the observation that Arkadia mutant mice lack a node and node-derived mesendoderm, identify Arkadia as an essential modulator of the nodal signalling cascade that leads to induction of Spemann's organizer.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 11298453
???displayArticle.link??? Nature
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: nodal nodal1 rnf111
???displayArticle.antibodies??? Somite Ab3


???attribute.lit??? ???displayArticles.show???