Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos
Summary: Studies across a diverse group of metazoan embryos indicate that Wnt signaling often activates the transcription factor Sp5, forming a signaling ‘cassette’ that plays critical roles in many developmental processes. This study explores the role of Wnt/Sp5 signaling during the specification a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-01-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223026937 |
| _version_ | 1797388783961767936 |
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| author | Sujan Gautam Jennifer L. Fenner Boyuan Wang Ryan C. Range |
| author_facet | Sujan Gautam Jennifer L. Fenner Boyuan Wang Ryan C. Range |
| author_sort | Sujan Gautam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Studies across a diverse group of metazoan embryos indicate that Wnt signaling often activates the transcription factor Sp5, forming a signaling ‘cassette’ that plays critical roles in many developmental processes. This study explores the role of Wnt/Sp5 signaling during the specification and patterning of the primary germ layers during early anterior-posterior axis formation in the deuterostome sea urchin embryo. Our functional analyses show that Sp5 is critical for endomesoderm specification downstream of Wnt/β-catenin in posterior cells as well as anterior neuroectoderm patterning downstream of non-canonical Wnt/JNK signaling in anterior cells. Interestingly, expression and functional data comparisons show that Wnt/Sp5 signaling often plays similar roles in posterior endomesoderm as well as neuroectoderm patterning along the AP axis of several deuterostome embryos, including vertebrates. Thus, our findings provide strong support for the idea that Wnt-Sp5 signaling cassettes were critical for the establishment of early germ layers in the common deuterostome ancestor. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:45:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb1fa3e22222476eb0a35c00ad8469a5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:45:50Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb1fa3e22222476eb0a35c00ad8469a52023-12-17T06:41:16ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422024-01-01271108616Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryosSujan Gautam0Jennifer L. Fenner1Boyuan Wang2Ryan C. Range3Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA; Corresponding authorSummary: Studies across a diverse group of metazoan embryos indicate that Wnt signaling often activates the transcription factor Sp5, forming a signaling ‘cassette’ that plays critical roles in many developmental processes. This study explores the role of Wnt/Sp5 signaling during the specification and patterning of the primary germ layers during early anterior-posterior axis formation in the deuterostome sea urchin embryo. Our functional analyses show that Sp5 is critical for endomesoderm specification downstream of Wnt/β-catenin in posterior cells as well as anterior neuroectoderm patterning downstream of non-canonical Wnt/JNK signaling in anterior cells. Interestingly, expression and functional data comparisons show that Wnt/Sp5 signaling often plays similar roles in posterior endomesoderm as well as neuroectoderm patterning along the AP axis of several deuterostome embryos, including vertebrates. Thus, our findings provide strong support for the idea that Wnt-Sp5 signaling cassettes were critical for the establishment of early germ layers in the common deuterostome ancestor.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223026937Molecular biologyEvolutionary biologyEmbryology |
| spellingShingle | Sujan Gautam Jennifer L. Fenner Boyuan Wang Ryan C. Range Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos iScience Molecular biology Evolutionary biology Embryology |
| title | Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| title_full | Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| title_fullStr | Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| title_short | Evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Sp5 signaling is critical for anterior-posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| title_sort | evolutionarily conserved wnt sp5 signaling is critical for anterior posterior axis patterning in sea urchin embryos |
| topic | Molecular biology Evolutionary biology Embryology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223026937 |
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