Open AccessA Wnt-planar polarity pathway instructs neurite branching by restricting F-actin assembly through endosomal signaling
Author(s) -
ChunHao Chen,
Chun-Wei He,
Chien-Po Liao,
Chih-Hong Pan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006720
Subject(s) - frizzled , wnt signaling pathway , biology , neurite , microbiology and biotechnology , convergent extension , cell polarity , dishevelled , actin , netrin , rab , signal transduction , axon guidance , genetics , axon , gtpase , cell , embryo , gastrulation , in vitro , embryogenesis
Spatial arrangement of neurite branching is instructed by both attractive and repulsive cues. Here we show that in C . elegans , the Wnt family of secreted glycoproteins specify neurite branching sites in the PLM mechanosensory neurons. Wnts function through MIG-1/Frizzled and the planar cell polarity protein (PCP) VANG-1/Strabismus/Vangl2 to restrict the formation of F-actin patches, which mark branching sites in nascent neurites. We find that VANG-1 promotes Wnt signaling by facilitating Frizzled endocytosis and genetically acts in a common pathway with arr-1 /β-arrestin, whose mutation results in defective PLM branching and F-actin patterns similar to those in the Wnt , mig-1 or vang-1 mutants. On the other hand, the UNC-6/Netrin pathway intersects orthogonally with Wnt-PCP signaling to guide PLM branch growth along the dorsal-ventral axis. Our study provides insights for how attractive and repulsive signals coordinate to sculpt neurite branching patterns, which are critical for circuit connectivity.