XB-ART-11800
Genes Dev
1999 Dec 01;1323:3149-59. doi: 10.1101/gad.13.23.3149.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
Wnt signaling in Xenopus embryos inhibits bmp4 expression and activates neural development.
Baker JC
,
Beddington RS
,
Harland RM
.
???displayArticle.abstract???
We report a new role for Wnt signaling in the vertebrate embryo: the induction of neural tissue from ectoderm. Early expression of mouse wnt8, Xwnt8, beta-catenin, or dominant-negative GSK3 induces the expression of neural-specific markers and inhibits the expression of Bmp4 in Xenopus ectoderm. We show that Wnt8, but not the BMP antagonist Noggin, can inhibit Bmp4 expression at early gastrula stages. Furthermore, inhibition of beta-catenin activity in the neural ectoderm of whole embryos by a truncated TCF results in a decrease in neural development. Therefore, we suggest that a cleavage-stage Wnt signal normally contributes to an early repression of Bmp4 on the dorsal side of the embryo and sensitizes the ectoderm to respond to neural inducing signals from the organizer. The Wnt targets Xnr3 and siamois have been shown previously to have neuralizing activity when overexpressed. However, antagonists of Wnt signaling, dnXwnt8 and Nxfrz8, inhibit Wnt-mediated Xnr3 and siamois induction, but not neural induction, suggesting an alternative mechanism for Bmp repression and neuralization. Conversely, dnTCF blocks both Wnt-mediated Xnr3 and neural induction, suggesting that both pathways require this transcription factor.
???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 10601040
???displayArticle.pmcLink??? PMC317181
???displayArticle.link??? Genes Dev
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]
Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: acta4 actc1 actl6a ag1 bmp4 bmpr1a ctnnb1 eef1a2 egr2 frzb fzd5 fzd8 gsk3b ncam1 nodal3 nodal3.2 nog nrp1 sia1 tbxt wnt3a wnt8a
???attribute.lit??? ???displayArticles.show???
Figure 1. Wnt ligands, Frizzled receptors, and signaling components induce neural tissue in Xenopus ectodermal explants. Either mWnt3, Xwnt3a, Xwnt8, mWnt8, or mDb-catenin (500 pg or 100 pg) were injected into one-cell Xenopus embryos. Ectoderm was removed at blastula stage, and RNA extracted at late neurula stage (20) (A,C) gastrula stage (10.5) (B) or for analysis by RT-PCR. (A) Injected ectoderm analyzed at neurula stage for expression of the general neural marker, NCAM, the hindbrain marker, krox-20, the muscle-specific marker, muscle actin, and the ubiquitously expressed internal control, EF1a. (B) Injected ectoderm analyzed at the gastrula stage for the expression of the Wnt inducible gene, Xnr3, the general mesodermal marker, Xbra, and EF1a. (C) Ectoderm injected with 1 ng each of the following: Xwnt5a; human frizzled 5 (hfz5), a mutant human frizzled 5; Xenopus frizzled 8 (Xfz8); dnGSK3; and combinations of Xwnt5a, with either the wild-type hfz5 or mutant hfz5. In A–C, RNA from noninjected ectoderm, from whole embryos treated with reverse transcriptase, and from whole embryos treated without reverse transcriptase were used as controls. (D) Ectoderm injected with 1, 10, 50, or 100 pg of either mWnt8 (a,c,e,g) or mDb-catenin (b,d,f,h) aged until stage 20 and analyzed by in situ hybridization for Nrp1. Controls in this experiment include ectoderm injected with 1 ng of dnTCF (i) and uninjected ectoderm (j). | |
Figure 2. The secreted Wnt ligands Xwnt8 and mWnt8 induce neural tissue of posterior character, whereas Wnt signal transduction components induce neural tissue of both anterior and posterior character. Onecell Xenopus embryos were injected into the animal hemisphere with 0.5 ng of mDbcatenin (B,I), 1 ng of dnGSK3 (C,J), 1 ng of dnXwnt8 (D,K), 0.5 ng of mWnt8 (E,L), and 0.5 ng of Xwnt8 (F,M). At blastula stage ectoderm was explanted and allowed to develop until late-neurula stage (20). Aged ectoderm and whole embryos were then double stained by in situ hybridization for the cement gland marker, XAG (red), and the general neural marker, Nrp1 (blue) (A– G) or single stained by in situ hybridization for the hindbrain marker, krox-20 (blue) (H– N). A and H are whole-embryo controls; G and N are uninjected ectodermal explants. | |
Figure 3. Wnt signaling in ectoderm inhibits the expression of Bmp4. One-cell Xenopus embryos were injected into the animal hemisphere with 0.5 ng of mWnt8 (A,F,K), 0.5 ng of mDbcatenin (B,G,L), and 1 ng of Frzb (D,I). At blastula stage ectoderm was explanted and aged until gastrula stage (10.5) or neurula stage (20). Ectoderm was subsequently probed with digoxigenin- labeled antisense-Bmp4 (A–D), Nrp1 (F–I), or muscle actin (K–M), by in situ hybridization. E, J, and N are whole embryos probed with Bmp4, Nrp1, and muscle actin, respectively. C, H, and M are uninjected control ectodermal explants. | |
Figure 4. Activated ALK3 inhibits neural induction by mWnt8 andmDb-catenin. Ectoderm was injected with 100 pg of mWnt8 (A) or 500 pg of mDb-catenin (C) or coinjected along with 2 ng of constitutively active ALK3 (B,D). Injected ectoderm was aged until stage 20 and probed with either digoxigenin-labeled Nrp1 (A,B) or both digoxigenin-labeled Nrp1 and fluorescein-labeled XAG (C,D). | |
Figure 5. mWnt8, but not Noggin, represses Bmp4 expression during gastrulation. Ectoderm was injected with 250pg of mWnt8 (A,E,I,M) or 100 pg of noggin (B,F,J,N), aged to stage 10 (A–C), stage 10.5 (E,F,G), stage 12 (I–K), or stage 21 (M–O), and probed with either digoxigenin-labeled Bmp4 (A–L) or digoxigenin- labeled Nrp1 (M–P). Uninjected ectoderm provides a negative control (C,G,K,O) and whole embryos indicate the normal pattern of expression (D,H,L,P). Arrows in D, H and L indicate the dorsal lip of the blastopore. | |
Figure 6. Neuralization without induction of b-catenin targets. One-cell Xenopus embryos were injected into the animal hemisphere with 250 pg of mWnt8, 1 ng of Nxfrz8, 500 pg of dnwnt8, 1 ng of dntcf, 1 ng of Frz8, or combinations of 250 pg of mWnt8 with either 1 ng of Nxfrz8, 500 pg of dnwnt8, or 1 ng of dntcf. At blastula stage ectoderm was explanted and aged until gastrula or late-neurula stages. Ectoderm aged until gastrula stage (10.5) was analyzed by RT-PCR for Xnr3, Xbra, EF1a and siamois (A); ectoderm aged until neurula stage (20) was probed with digoxigenin-labeled antisense-Nrp1 by in situ hybridization to detect general neural tissue (B). In B, a represents uninjected control ectodermal explants; j is a whole-embryo control. | |
Figure 7. b-Catenin is necessary for normal neural development. dnTCF or mDb-catenin (200 pg), along with 200 pg of lacZ mRNA, were injected into one of two dorsal blastomeres of eight-cell-staged Xenopus embryos. At neural-plate stage (14), the embryos were stained for the presence of b-galactosidase activity with Red Gal and subsequently probed with digoxigenin- labeled antisense-Nrp1 (A,B,D) or digoxigenin-labeled antisense muscle actin (C,E) by in situ hybridization. A, B, and C are embryos that have been injected with dnTCF; D and E have been injected with mDb-catenin. Blue indicates the presense of neural tissue (A,B,D) or muscle (C,E); red indicates which cells are expressing the injected proteins. Cells expressing Red Gal were exclusively ectodermal. Arrows point to domains of b-galactosidase activity. White broken lines delineate themidline in all panels. |
References [+] :
Axelrod,
Differential recruitment of Dishevelled provides signaling specificity in the planar cell polarity and Wingless signaling pathways.
1998, Pubmed,
Xenbase
Axelrod, Differential recruitment of Dishevelled provides signaling specificity in the planar cell polarity and Wingless signaling pathways. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Baker, A novel mesoderm inducer, Madr2, functions in the activin signal transduction pathway. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Bejsovec, Signaling activities of the Drosophila wingless gene are separately mutable and appear to be transduced at the cell surface. 1995, Pubmed
Belo, Cerberus-like is a secreted factor with neutralizing activity expressed in the anterior primitive endoderm of the mouse gastrula. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Bhanot, A new member of the frizzled family from Drosophila functions as a Wingless receptor. 1996, Pubmed
Bolce, Ventral ectoderm of Xenopus forms neural tissue, including hindbrain, in response to activin. 1992, Pubmed , Xenbase
Bouillet, A new mouse member of the Wnt gene family, mWnt-8, is expressed during early embryogenesis and is ectopically induced by retinoic acid. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Boutros, Dishevelled activates JNK and discriminates between JNK pathways in planar polarity and wingless signaling. 1998, Pubmed
Bouwmeester, Cerberus is a head-inducing secreted factor expressed in the anterior endoderm of Spemann's organizer. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Bradley, The structure and expression of the Xenopus Krox-20 gene: conserved and divergent patterns of expression in rhombomeres and neural crest. 1993, Pubmed , Xenbase
Brannon, A beta-catenin/XTcf-3 complex binds to the siamois promoter to regulate dorsal axis specification in Xenopus. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Brannon, Activation of Siamois by the Wnt pathway. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Carnac, The homeobox gene Siamois is a target of the Wnt dorsalisation pathway and triggers organiser activity in the absence of mesoderm. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Chomczynski, Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. 1987, Pubmed
Christian, Xwnt-8 modifies the character of mesoderm induced by bFGF in isolated Xenopus ectoderm. 1992, Pubmed , Xenbase
Christian, Interactions between Xwnt-8 and Spemann organizer signaling pathways generate dorsoventral pattern in the embryonic mesoderm of Xenopus. 1993, Pubmed , Xenbase
Darras, Animal and vegetal pole cells of early Xenopus embryos respond differently to maternal dorsal determinants: implications for the patterning of the organiser. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Deardorff, Frizzled-8 is expressed in the Spemann organizer and plays a role in early morphogenesis. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Dominguez, Role of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta as a negative regulator of dorsoventral axis formation in Xenopus embryos. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Fainsod, On the function of BMP-4 in patterning the marginal zone of the Xenopus embryo. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Fainsod, The dorsalizing and neural inducing gene follistatin is an antagonist of BMP-4. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Feldman, Zebrafish organizer development and germ-layer formation require nodal-related signals. 1998, Pubmed
Gallagher, Autonomous differentiation of dorsal axial structures from an animal cap cleavage stage blastomere in Xenopus. 1991, Pubmed , Xenbase
Glinka, Head induction by simultaneous repression of Bmp and Wnt signalling in Xenopus. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hammerschmidt, Genetic analysis of dorsoventral pattern formation in the zebrafish: requirement of a BMP-like ventralizing activity and its dorsal repressor. 1996, Pubmed
Hansen, Direct neural induction and selective inhibition of mesoderm and epidermis inducers by Xnr3. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Harland, In situ hybridization: an improved whole-mount method for Xenopus embryos. 1991, Pubmed , Xenbase
He, A member of the Frizzled protein family mediating axis induction by Wnt-5A. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
He, Glycogen synthase kinase-3 and dorsoventral patterning in Xenopus embryos. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Heasman, Overexpression of cadherins and underexpression of beta-catenin inhibit dorsal mesoderm induction in early Xenopus embryos. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hemmati-Brivanlou, Follistatin, an antagonist of activin, is expressed in the Spemann organizer and displays direct neuralizing activity. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hemmati-Brivanlou, Ventral mesodermal patterning in Xenopus embryos: expression patterns and activities of BMP-2 and BMP-4. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hemmati-Brivanlou, Localization of specific mRNAs in Xenopus embryos by whole-mount in situ hybridization. 1990, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hemmati-Brivanlou, Inhibition of activin receptor signaling promotes neuralization in Xenopus. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Holowacz, Properties of the dorsal activity found in the vegetal cortical cytoplasm of Xenopus eggs. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hoppler, Expression of a dominant-negative Wnt blocks induction of MyoD in Xenopus embryos. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Hsu, The Xenopus dorsalizing factor Gremlin identifies a novel family of secreted proteins that antagonize BMP activities. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Jones, DVR-4 (bone morphogenetic protein-4) as a posterior-ventralizing factor in Xenopus mesoderm induction. 1992, Pubmed , Xenbase
Kageura, Activation of dorsal development by contact between the cortical dorsal determinant and the equatorial core cytoplasm in eggs of Xenopus laevis. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Kageura, Spatial distribution of the capacity to initiate a secondary embryo in the 32-cell embryo of Xenopus laevis. 1990, Pubmed , Xenbase
Kengaku, Distinct WNT pathways regulating AER formation and dorsoventral polarity in the chick limb bud. 1998, Pubmed
Knecht, Dorsal-ventral patterning and differentiation of noggin-induced neural tissue in the absence of mesoderm. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
LaBonne, Neural crest induction in Xenopus: evidence for a two-signal model. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Lamb, Fibroblast growth factor is a direct neural inducer, which combined with noggin generates anterior-posterior neural pattern. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Lamb, Neural induction by the secreted polypeptide noggin. 1993, Pubmed , Xenbase
Larabell, Establishment of the dorso-ventral axis in Xenopus embryos is presaged by early asymmetries in beta-catenin that are modulated by the Wnt signaling pathway. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Lemaire, Expression cloning of Siamois, a Xenopus homeobox gene expressed in dorsal-vegetal cells of blastulae and able to induce a complete secondary axis. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Leyns, Frzb-1 is a secreted antagonist of Wnt signaling expressed in the Spemann organizer. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Li, Dishevelled proteins lead to two signaling pathways. Regulation of LEF-1 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase in mammalian cells. 1999, Pubmed
London, Expression of Epi 1, an epidermis-specific marker in Xenopus laevis embryos, is specified prior to gastrulation. 1988, Pubmed , Xenbase
Maniatis, A ubiquitin ligase complex essential for the NF-kappaB, Wnt/Wingless, and Hedgehog signaling pathways. 1999, Pubmed
Marchant, The inductive properties of mesoderm suggest that the neural crest cells are specified by a BMP gradient. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
McGrew, Wnt and FGF pathways cooperatively pattern anteroposterior neural ectoderm in Xenopus. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
McGrew, Specification of the anteroposterior neural axis through synergistic interaction of the Wnt signaling cascade with noggin and follistatin. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
McKendry, LEF-1/TCF proteins mediate wnt-inducible transcription from the Xenopus nodal-related 3 promoter. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Molenaar, XTcf-3 transcription factor mediates beta-catenin-induced axis formation in Xenopus embryos. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Moon, Xwnt-5A: a maternal Wnt that affects morphogenetic movements after overexpression in embryos of Xenopus laevis. 1993, Pubmed , Xenbase
Nguyen, Ventral and lateral regions of the zebrafish gastrula, including the neural crest progenitors, are established by a bmp2b/swirl pathway of genes. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Otte, Ectopic induction of dorsal mesoderm by overexpression of Xwnt-8 elevates the neural competence of Xenopus ectoderm. 1992, Pubmed , Xenbase
Piccolo, Cleavage of Chordin by Xolloid metalloprotease suggests a role for proteolytic processing in the regulation of Spemann organizer activity. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Piccolo, Dorsoventral patterning in Xenopus: inhibition of ventral signals by direct binding of chordin to BMP-4. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Pierce, Regulation of Spemann organizer formation by the intracellular kinase Xgsk-3. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Rocheleau, Wnt signaling and an APC-related gene specify endoderm in early C. elegans embryos. 1997, Pubmed
Rowning, Microtubule-mediated transport of organelles and localization of beta-catenin to the future dorsal side of Xenopus eggs. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Saint-Jeannet, Regulation of dorsal fate in the neuraxis by Wnt-1 and Wnt-3a. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sasai, Xenopus chordin: a novel dorsalizing factor activated by organizer-specific homeobox genes. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sasai, Regulation of neural induction by the Chd and Bmp-4 antagonistic patterning signals in Xenopus. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Schneider, Beta-catenin translocation into nuclei demarcates the dorsalizing centers in frog and fish embryos. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sharpe, A homeobox-containing marker of posterior neural differentiation shows the importance of predetermination in neural induction. 1987, Pubmed , Xenbase
Siegfried, wingless signaling acts through zeste-white 3, the Drosophila homolog of glycogen synthase kinase-3, to regulate engrailed and establish cell fate. 1992, Pubmed
Sive, Progressive determination during formation of the anteroposterior axis in Xenopus laevis. 1989, Pubmed , Xenbase
Slusarski, Interaction of Wnt and a Frizzled homologue triggers G-protein-linked phosphatidylinositol signalling. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Smith, Injected Xwnt-8 RNA acts early in Xenopus embryos to promote formation of a vegetal dorsalizing center. 1991, Pubmed , Xenbase
Smith, A nodal-related gene defines a physical and functional domain within the Spemann organizer. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Smith, Expression cloning of noggin, a new dorsalizing factor localized to the Spemann organizer in Xenopus embryos. 1992, Pubmed , Xenbase
Smith, Secreted noggin protein mimics the Spemann organizer in dorsalizing Xenopus mesoderm. 1993, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sokol, Analysis of Dishevelled signalling pathways during Xenopus development. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sokol, Pre-existent pattern in Xenopus animal pole cells revealed by induction with activin. 1991, Pubmed , Xenbase
Sokol, Dorsalizing and neuralizing properties of Xdsh, a maternally expressed Xenopus homolog of dishevelled. 1995, Pubmed , Xenbase
Streit, Chordin regulates primitive streak development and the stability of induced neural cells, but is not sufficient for neural induction in the chick embryo. 1998, Pubmed
Turner, Expression of achaete-scute homolog 3 in Xenopus embryos converts ectodermal cells to a neural fate. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Vleminckx, Adenomatous polyposis coli tumor suppressor protein has signaling activity in Xenopus laevis embryos resulting in the induction of an ectopic dorsoanterior axis. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Wang, Frzb, a secreted protein expressed in the Spemann organizer, binds and inhibits Wnt-8. 1997, Pubmed , Xenbase
Willert, Beta-catenin: a key mediator of Wnt signaling. 1998, Pubmed
Wilson, Mesodermal patterning by an inducer gradient depends on secondary cell-cell communication. 1994, Pubmed , Xenbase
Yanagawa, The dishevelled protein is modified by wingless signaling in Drosophila. 1995, Pubmed
Yang-Snyder, A frizzled homolog functions in a vertebrate Wnt signaling pathway. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Yost, The axis-inducing activity, stability, and subcellular distribution of beta-catenin is regulated in Xenopus embryos by glycogen synthase kinase 3. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase
Yost, GBP, an inhibitor of GSK-3, is implicated in Xenopus development and oncogenesis. 1998, Pubmed , Xenbase
Zimmerman, The Spemann organizer signal noggin binds and inactivates bone morphogenetic protein 4. 1996, Pubmed , Xenbase