First published online March 9, 2006
Development 133, 704e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
ß-Catenin: it takes two
ß-Catenin-mediated signalling is involved at several stages of
vertebrate neural development. Early on, it is essential for the formation of
the dorsal organiser, a neural-inducing and dorsalising signalling centre;
later, it promotes posterior and ventral fates. On p.
1299, Bellipanni and
colleagues use zebrafish to investigate the multiple roles of ß-catenin
in neural development. They identify a new ß-catenin gene
(ß-catenin-2), the expression of which is reduced by
the maternal-effect mutation ichabod - most embryos bred from females
homozygous for this mutation lack notochord, head and trunk neurectoderm.
Inhibiting ß-catenin-2 function with morpholinos shows that it (but not
the previously studied ß-catenin-1) is needed for dorsal organizer
formation. Later in development, however, the two ß-catenins function
redundantly to repress neurectoderm formation - in the absence of both
functions, an abnormal tuft-like projection of neurectoderm forms with an
apparently appropriate anteroposterior pattern. Overall, the researchers
conclude that different ß-catenins can have different, sometimes
opposing, roles at different times during neural development.
Related articles in Development:
- Essential and opposing roles of zebrafish ß-catenins in the formation of dorsal axial structures and neurectoderm
- Gianfranco Bellipanni, Máté Varga, Shingo Maegawa, Yoshiyuki Imai, Christina Kelly, Andrea Pomrehn Myers, Felicia Chu, William S. Talbot, and Eric S. Weinberg
Development 2006 133: 1299-1309.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
