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Gαq negatively regulates the Wnt‐β‐catenin pathway and dorsal embryonic Xenopus laevis development
Author(s) -
Soto Ximena,
Mayor Roberto,
Torrejón Marcela,
Montecino Martín,
Hinrichs María Victoria,
Olate Juan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.21228
Subject(s) - xenopus , wnt signaling pathway , gastrulation , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , chordin , mesoderm , catenin , embryo , phenotype , cell fate determination , signal transduction , embryogenesis , embryonic stem cell , genetics , transcription factor , gene
The non‐canonical Wnt/Ca 2+ signaling pathway has been implicated in the regulation of axis formation and gastrulation movements during early Xenopus laevis embryo development, by antagonizing the canonical Wnt/β‐catenin dorsalizing pathway and specifying ventral cell fate. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in this antagonist crosstalk are not known. Since Gαq is the main regulator of Ca 2+ signaling in vertebrates and from this perspective probably involved in the events elicited by the non‐canonical Wnt/Ca 2+ pathway, we decided to study the effect of wild‐type Xenopus Gq (xGαq) in dorso‐ventral axis embryo patterning. Overexpression of xGαq or its endogenous activation at the dorsal animal region of Xenopus embryo both induced a strong ventralized phenotype and inhibited the expression of dorsal‐specific mesoderm markers goosecoid and chordin . Dorsal expression of an xGαq dominant‐negative mutant reverted the xGαq‐induced ventralized phenotype. Finally, we observed that the Wnt8‐induced secondary axis formation is reverted by endogenous xGαq activation, indicating that it is negatively regulating the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway. J. Cell. Physiol. 214: 483–490, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.