PUBLICATION

Wnt5 signaling in vertebrate pancreas development

Authors
Kim, H.J., Schleiffarth, J.R., Jessurun, J., Sumanas, S., Petryk, A., Lin, S., and Ekker, S.C.
ID
ZDB-PUB-051101-8
Date
2005
Source
BMC Biology   3: 23 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Ekker, Stephen C., Lin, Shuo, Sumanas, Saulius
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Cell Movement
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/physiology
  • Frizzled Receptors
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Insulin/genetics
  • Islets of Langerhans/embryology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Morphogenesis
  • Pancreas/embryology*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins/genetics*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins/physiology*
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled/genetics*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins/metabolism
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transcription, Genetic
  • Transfection
  • Vertebrates/embryology*
  • Vertebrates/growth & development
  • Wnt Proteins/genetics*
  • Wnt Proteins/physiology
  • Xenopus
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/physiology*
PubMed
16246260 Full text @ BMC Biol.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Signaling by the Wnt family of secreted glycoproteins through their receptors, the frizzled (Fz) family of seven-pass transmembrane proteins, is critical for numerous cell fate and tissue polarity decisions during development. RESULTS: We report a novel role of Wnt signaling in organogenesis using the formation of the islet during pancreatic development as a model tissue. We used the advantages of the zebrafish to visualize and document this process in living embryos and demonstrated that insulin-positive cells actively migrate to form an islet. We used morpholinos (MOs), sequence-specific translational inhibitors, and time-lapse imaging analysis to show that the Wnt-5 ligand and the Fz-2 receptor are required for proper insulin-cell migration in zebrafish. Histological analyses of islets in Wnt5a-/- mouse embryos showed that Wnt5a signaling is also critical for murine pancreatic insulin-cell migration. CONCLUSIONS: Our results implicate a conserved role of a Wnt5/Fz2 signaling pathway in islet formation during pancreatic development. This study opens the door for further investigation into a role of Wnt signaling in vertebrate organ development and disease.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping