Click
here to close Hello! We notice that
you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Echinobase
and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a
current version of Chrome,
FireFox,
or Safari.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
1998 Aug 04;9516:9343-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.16.9343.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
beta-Catenin is essential for patterning the maternally specified animal-vegetal axis in the sea urchin embryo.
Wikramanayake AH
,
Huang L
,
Klein WH
.
???displayArticle.abstract???
In sea urchin embryos, the animal-vegetal axis is specified during oogenesis. After fertilization, this axis is patterned to produce five distinct territories by the 60-cell stage. Territorial specification is thought to occur by a signal transduction cascade that is initiated by the large micromeres located at the vegetal pole. The molecular mechanisms that mediate the specification events along the animal-vegetal axis in sea urchin embryos are largely unknown. Nuclear beta-catenin is seen in vegetal cells of the early embryo, suggesting that this protein plays a role in specifying vegetal cell fates. Here, we test this hypothesis and show that beta-catenin is necessary for vegetal plate specification and is also sufficient for endoderm formation. In addition, we show that beta-catenin has pronounced effects on animal blastomeres and is critical for specification of aboral ectoderm and for ectoderm patterning, presumably via a noncell-autonomous mechanism. These results support a model in which a Wnt-like signal released by vegetal cells patterns the early embryo along the animal-vegetal axis. Our results also reveal similarities between the sea urchin animal-vegetal axis and the vertebrate dorsal-ventral axis, suggesting that these axes share a common evolutionary origin.
Aberle,
beta-catenin is a target for the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.
1997, Pubmed
Aberle,
beta-catenin is a target for the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.
1997,
Pubmed
Davidson,
Lineage-specific gene expression and the regulative capacities of the sea urchin embryo: a proposed mechanism.
1989,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Emily-Fenouil,
GSK3beta/shaggy mediates patterning along the animal-vegetal axis of the sea urchin embryo.
1998,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Fagotto,
Binding to cadherins antagonizes the signaling activity of beta-catenin during axis formation in Xenopus.
1996,
Pubmed
Goldstein,
Axis specification in animal development.
1997,
Pubmed
Guss,
Skeletal morphogenesis in the sea urchin embryo: regulation of primary mesenchyme gene expression and skeletal rod growth by ectoderm-derived cues.
1997,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Heasman,
Overexpression of cadherins and underexpression of beta-catenin inhibit dorsal mesoderm induction in early Xenopus embryos.
1994,
Pubmed
Hedgepeth,
Activation of the Wnt signaling pathway: a molecular mechanism for lithium action.
1997,
Pubmed
Hoppler,
Expression of a dominant-negative Wnt blocks induction of MyoD in Xenopus embryos.
1996,
Pubmed
Klein,
A molecular mechanism for the effect of lithium on development.
1996,
Pubmed
Livingston,
Lithium evokes expression of vegetal-specific molecules in the animal blastomeres of sea urchin embryos.
1989,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Marikawa,
Dorsal determinants in the Xenopus egg are firmly associated with the vegetal cortex and behave like activators of the Wnt pathway.
1997,
Pubmed
McMahon,
Introduction of cloned DNA into sea urchin egg cytoplasm: replication and persistence during embryogenesis.
1985,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Miller,
Signal transduction through beta-catenin and specification of cell fate during embryogenesis.
1996,
Pubmed
Nocente-McGrath,
Altered cell fate in LiCl-treated sea urchin embryos.
1991,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Ransick,
A complete second gut induced by transplanted micromeres in the sea urchin embryo.
1993,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Ransick,
Whole mount in situ hybridization shows Endo 16 to be a marker for the vegetal plate territory in sea urchin embryos.
1993,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Ransick,
Micromeres are required for normal vegetal plate specification in sea urchin embryos.
1995,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Sanson,
Uncoupling cadherin-based adhesion from wingless signalling in Drosophila.
1996,
Pubmed
Stambolic,
Lithium inhibits glycogen synthase kinase-3 activity and mimics wingless signalling in intact cells.
1996,
Pubmed
Wessel,
Gastrulation in the sea urchin is accompanied by the accumulation of an endoderm-specific mRNA.
1989,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Wessel,
Transcription of the Spec 1-like gene of Lytechinus is selectively inhibited in response to disruption of the extracellular matrix.
1989,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Wikramanayake,
Autonomous and non-autonomous differentiation of ectoderm in different sea urchin species.
1995,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Wikramanayake,
Multiple signaling events specify ectoderm and pattern the oral-aboral axis in the sea urchin embryo.
1997,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Yost,
The axis-inducing activity, stability, and subcellular distribution of beta-catenin is regulated in Xenopus embryos by glycogen synthase kinase 3.
1996,
Pubmed
Zecca,
Direct and long-range action of a wingless morphogen gradient.
1996,
Pubmed
van de Wetering,
Armadillo coactivates transcription driven by the product of the Drosophila segment polarity gene dTCF.
1997,
Pubmed
