Novel genes involved in canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in early Ciona intestinalis embryos

Dev Growth Differ. 2008 May;50(4):215-27. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-169X.2008.01012.x. Epub 2008 Mar 10.

Abstract

We report here characterization of five genes for novel components of the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway. These genes were identified in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis through a loss-of-function screening for genes required for embryogenesis with morpholinos, and four of them have counterparts in vertebrates. The five genes we studied are as follows: Ci-PGAP1, a Ciona orthologue of human PGAP1, which encodes GPI (glycosylphosphatidylinositol) inositol-deacylase, Ci-ZF278, a gene encoding a C2H2 zinc-finger protein, Ci-C10orf11, a Ciona orthologue of human C10orf11 that encodes a protein with leucine-rich repeats, Ci-Spatial/C4orf17, a single counterpart for two human genes Spatial and C4orf17, and Ci-FLJ10634, a Ciona orthologue of human FLJ10634 that encodes a member of the J-protein family. Knockdown of each of the genes mimicked beta-catenin knockdown and resulted in suppression of the expression of beta-catenin downstream genes (Ci-FoxD, Ci-Lhx3, Ci-Otx and Ci-Fgf9/16/20) and subsequent endoderm formation. For every gene, defects in knockdown embryos were rescued by overexpression of a constitutively active form, but not wild-type, of Ci-beta-catenin. Dosage-sensitive interactions were found between Ci-beta-catenin and each of the genes. These results suggest that these five genes act upstream of or parallel to Ci-beta-catenin in the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in early Ciona embryos.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Ciona intestinalis / embryology*
  • Ciona intestinalis / genetics
  • Ciona intestinalis / metabolism
  • Down-Regulation
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases
  • Signal Transduction
  • Wnt Proteins / genetics
  • Wnt Proteins / metabolism*
  • beta Catenin / genetics
  • beta Catenin / metabolism*

Substances

  • Wnt Proteins
  • beta Catenin
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases