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Comment
. 2003 Sep 1;162(5):753-5.
doi: 10.1083/jcb.200307181.

When Wnts antagonize Wnts

Gilbert Weidinger  1 , Randall T Moon
Affiliations
Comment

When Wnts antagonize Wnts

Gilbert Weidinger et al. J Cell Biol. .

Abstract

Secreted Wnt ligands appear to activate a variety of signaling pathways. Two papers in this issue now present genetic evidence that "noncanonical" Wnt signaling inhibits the "canonical" Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. Westfall et al. (2003a) show that zebrafish embryos lacking maternal Wnt-5 function are dorsalized due to ectopic activation of beta-catenin, whereas Topol et al. (2003) report that chondrogenesis in the distal mouse limb bud depends on inhibition of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling by a paralogue of Wnt-5. These studies present the first genetic confirmation of the previous hypothesis that vertebrate Wnt signaling pathways can act in an antagonistic manner.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Vertebrate Wnt-5 paralogues antagonize Wnt/β-catenin signaling. (A) A highly schematized model of antagonistic interactions of maternal Wnt signaling pathways in early Xenopus or zebrafish embryos. In response to Dishevelled (Dsh) and perhaps a Wnt signal, high β-catenin levels specify the dorsal side. Maternal Wnt-5 is required for development of ventral cell fates by antagonizing β-catenin signaling, although where Wnt-5 is active remains unclear. (B) A simplistic model of Wnt antagonism in the mouse limb bud. The limb ectoderm and apical ectodermal ridge (AER) meet at the distal limb bud. As several Wnts (e.g., Wnt7a or Wnt3) that are able to activate canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling are expressed in the limb ectoderm and apical ectodermal ridge, the distal limb bud has a higher level of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which suppresses chondrogenesis. In the distal limb bud, Wnt-5a signaling decreases β-catenin levels, which allows chondrogenesis to occur.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

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