Journal
GENES & DEVELOPMENT
Volume 17, Issue 2, Pages 295-309Publisher
COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB PRESS, PUBLICATIONS DEPT
DOI: 10.1101/gad.1022203
Keywords
Wnt; Frizzled; Rac; Rho; gastrulation; vertebrates
Categories
Funding
- NINDS NIH HHS [T32 NS007473, NS07473] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Wnt/Frizzled (Fz) signaling controls cell polarity/movements during vertebrate gastrulation via incompletely defined mechanisms. We demonstrated previously that Wnt/Fz activation of Rho, a GTPase and regulator of cytoskeletal architecture, is essential for vertebrate gastrulation. Here we report that in mammalian cells and Xenopus embryos, Wnt/Fz signaling coactivates Rho and Rac, another GTPase and distinct regulator of cytoskeletal architecture. Wnt/Fz activation of Rac is independent of Rho and mediates Wnt/Fz activation of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Dishevelled (Dvl), a cytoplasmic protein downstream of Fz, forms a Wnt-induced complex with Rac independent of the Wnt-induced Dv1-Rho complex. Depletion or inhibition of Rac function perturbs Xenopus gastrulation without affecting Wnt/Fz activation of the Rho or beta-catenin pathway. We propose that parallel activation of Rac and Rho pathways by Wnt/Fz signaling is required for cell polarity and movements during vertebrate gastrulation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available