Development, Vol 124, Issue 2 525-536, Copyright © 1997 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Wnt-11 is expressed in early avian mesoderm and required for the differentiation of the quail mesoderm cell line QCE-6

CA Eisenberg, RG Gourdie and LM Eisenberg
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.

The beginning of mesodermal development involves the aggregation of newly gastrulated cells into epithelial fields, as a prelude to organ formation. To analyze the molecular regulation of this initial patterning, we have focused on the Wnt family of secreted signaling proteins, molecules which have been shown to promote embryonic patterning by regulating cell-cell associations. In this study, we show that the Wnt-11 gene is expressed by newly gastrulated mesoderm cells within avian embryos. The expression pattern of Wnt-11 also suggests that it may be involved in formation of the cardiogenic fields and somites. Subsequently, we utilized the quail mesoderm cell line QCE-6 as a culture model for examining the influence of Wnt-11 on early mesoderm cell differentiation. This cell line has been shown to be representative of early nondifferentiated mesoderm cells and has the potential to differentiate into cardiomyocytes, endothelial or red blood cells. Similar to early mesoderm cells, QCE-6 cells express Wnt-11. We have engineered stable transfectants of these cells that produce either diminished or enhanced levels of Wnt-11 protein. Our studies show that Wnt-11 regulates cellular interactions of QCE-6 cells, as demonstrated by alterations in contact-inhibited growth, tight and gap junction formation and plakoglobin expression. Both the morphology and growth factor-induced differentiation of QCE-6 cells are regulated in a cooperative fashion by Wnt-11 and fibronectin. These results, described in detail below, demonstrate the uniqueness of QCE-6 cells as a culture system for analyzing Wnt activity. In particular, QCE-6 cells are the first cell line that has demonstrated: (1) Wnt-dependent differentiation; (2) concentration-variable responses to Wnt protein; and (3) altered cell phenotypes as a direct response to Wnt-5a class proteins (e.g. Wnt-4 and Wnt-11).

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. P. Flaherty, A. Abdel-Latif, Q. Li, G. Hunt, S. Ranjan, Q. Ou, X.-L. Tang, R. K. Johnson, R. Bolli, and B. Dawn Noncanonical Wnt11 Signaling Is Sufficient to Induce Cardiomyogenic Differentiation in Unfractionated Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells Circulation, April 29, 2008; 117(17): 2241 - 2252. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Q. Yue, L. Wagstaff, X. Yang, C. Weijer, and A. Munsterberg Wnt3a-mediated chemorepulsion controls movement patterns of cardiac progenitors and requires RhoA function Development, March 15, 2008; 135(6): 1029 - 1037. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Z. Lin, S. Reierstad, C.-C. Huang, and S. E. Bulun Novel Estrogen Receptor-{alpha} Binding Sites and Estradiol Target Genes Identified by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Cloning in Breast Cancer Cancer Res., May 15, 2007; 67(10): 5017 - 5024. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. van Wijk, A. F.M. Moorman, and M. J.B. van den Hoff Role of bone morphogenetic proteins in cardiac differentiation Cardiovasc Res, May 1, 2007; 74(2): 244 - 255. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Oyama, T. Nagai, H. Wada, A. T. Naito, K. Matsuura, K. Iwanaga, T. Takahashi, M. Goto, Y. Mikami, N. Yasuda, et al. Cardiac side population cells have a potential to migrate and differentiate into cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo J. Cell Biol., January 29, 2007; 176(3): 329 - 341. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Brade, J. Manner, and M. Kuhl The role of Wnt signalling in cardiac development and tissue remodelling in the mature heart Cardiovasc Res, November 1, 2006; 72(2): 198 - 209. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Fukuda and S. Yuasa Stem Cells as a Source of Regenerative Cardiomyocytes Circ. Res., April 28, 2006; 98(8): 1002 - 1013. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Zhu, M. Mazor, Y. Kawano, M. M. Walker, H. Y. Leung, K. Armstrong, J. Waxman, and R. M. Kypta Analysis of Wnt Gene Expression in Prostate Cancer: Mutual Inhibition by WNT11 and the Androgen Receptor Cancer Res., November 1, 2004; 64(21): 7918 - 7926. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Matsuura, T. Nagai, N. Nishigaki, T. Oyama, J. Nishi, H. Wada, M. Sano, H. Toko, H. Akazawa, T. Sato, et al. Adult Cardiac Sca-1-positive Cells Differentiate into Beating Cardiomyocytes J. Biol. Chem., March 19, 2004; 279(12): 11384 - 11391. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. N. Olson and M. D. Schneider Sizing up the heart: development redux in disease Genes & Dev., August 15, 2003; 17(16): 1937 - 1956. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Solloway and R. P. Harvey Molecular pathways in myocardial development: a stem cell perspective Cardiovasc Res, May 1, 2003; 58(2): 264 - 277. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Sachinidis, B. K. Fleischmann, E. Kolossov, M. Wartenberg, H. Sauer, and J. Hescheler Cardiac specific differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells Cardiovasc Res, May 1, 2003; 58(2): 278 - 291. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Marvin, G. Di Rocco, A. Gardiner, S. M. Bush, and A. B. Lassar Inhibition of Wnt activity induces heart formation from posterior mesoderm Genes & Dev., February 1, 2001; 15(3): 316 - 327. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				C. Brandon, L. M. Eisenberg, and C. A. Eisenberg WNT signaling modulates the diversification of hematopoietic cells Blood, December 15, 2000; 96(13): 4132 - 4141. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Calvo, J. West, W. Franklin, P. Erickson, L. Bemis, E. Li, B. Helfrich, P. Bunn, J. Roche, E. Brambilla, et al. Altered HOX and WNT7A expression in human lung cancer PNAS, November 7, 2000; 97(23): 12776 - 12781. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. van der Heyden, M. Rook, M. Hermans, G Rijksen, J Boonstra, L. Defize, and O. Destree Identification of connexin43 as a functional target for Wnt signalling J. Cell Sci., January 6, 1998; 111(12): 1741 - 1749. [Abstract] [PDF]