A C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin acts as a novel regulator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in planarians.
| Title: | A C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin acts as a novel regulator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in planarians. |
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| Authors: | Hanxia Su, Miquel Sureda-Gomez, Neus Rabaneda-Lombarte, Maria Gelabert, Jianlei Xie, Wei Wu, Teresa Adell |
| Source: | PLoS Genetics, Vol 13, Iss 10, p e1007030 (2017) |
| Publisher Information: | Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2017. |
| Publication Year: | 2017 |
| Collection: | LCC:Genetics |
| Subject Terms: | Genetics, QH426-470 |
| More Details: | β-Catenin, the core element of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, is a multifunctional and evolutionarily conserved protein which performs essential roles in a variety of developmental and homeostatic processes. Despite its crucial roles, the mechanisms that control its context-specific functions in time and space remain largely unknown. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been extensively studied in planarians, flatworms with the ability to regenerate and remodel the whole body, providing a 'whole animal' developmental framework to approach this question. Here we identify a C-terminally truncated β-catenin (β-catenin4), generated by gene duplication, that is required for planarian photoreceptor cell specification. Our results indicate that the role of β-catenin4 is to modulate the activity of β-catenin1, the planarian β-catenin involved in Wnt signal transduction in the nucleus, mediated by the transcription factor TCF-2. This inhibitory form of β-catenin, expressed in specific cell types, would provide a novel mechanism to modulate nuclear β-catenin signaling levels. Genomic searches and in vitro analysis suggest that the existence of a C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin could be an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to achieve a fine-tuned regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in specific cellular contexts. |
| Document Type: | article |
| File Description: | electronic resource |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 1553-7390 1553-7404 |
| Relation: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5643146?pdf=render; https://doaj.org/toc/1553-7390; https://doaj.org/toc/1553-7404 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007030 |
| Access URL: | https://doaj.org/article/622d7bb32f0948a6ba00288b663b1b44 |
| Accession Number: | edsdoj.622d7bb32f0948a6ba00288b663b1b44 |
| Database: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
| ISSN: | 15537390 15537404 |
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| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007030 |
| Published in: | PLoS Genetics |
| Language: | English |