Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2009 Jun 1;185(5):761-3.
doi: 10.1083/jcb.200904125.

Epigenetics, Wnt signaling, and stem cells: the Pygo2 connection

Valerie Horsley  1
Affiliations
Comment

Epigenetics, Wnt signaling, and stem cells: the Pygo2 connection

Valerie Horsley. J Cell Biol. .

Abstract

Stem cells use both transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms to control gene expression and regulate tissue development and homeostasis. In this issue, Gu et al. (Gu, B., P. Sun, Y. Yuan, R.C. Moraes, A. Li, A. Teng, A. Agrawal, C. Rhéaume, V. Bilanchone, J.M. Veltmaat, et al. 2009. J. Cell Biol. 185:811-826) reveal an important link between these two mechanisms in mammary epithelial stem cells by showing that transcriptional activation of beta-catenin downstream of Wnt signaling can be regulated epigenetically through a chromatin remodeling factor, Pygo2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Pygo2 regulates Wnt signaling during mammary gland development. Pygo2 promotes trimethylation (yellow) of lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4) and synergistically binds these residues and BCL9–β-catenin complexes to activate β-catenin target genes in mammary epithelium. Loss of Pygo2 in mice results in embryonic defects of mammary progenitor cells and placode (white circle) formation. In addition, loss of Pygo2 results in postnatal defects in mammary ductal networks caused by the lack of stem cells in TEBs (purple circles). Pygo2-null mammary glands rescue mammary overgrowth phenotypes when Wnt signaling is hyperactivated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Andl T., Reddy S., Gaddapara T., Millar S. 2002. WNT signals are required for the initiation of hair follicle development.Dev. Cell. 2:643–653 - PubMed
    1. Belenkaya T.Y., Han C., Standley H.J., Lin X., Houston D.W., Heasman J. 2002. pygopus Encodes a nuclear protein essential for wingless/Wnt signaling.Development. 129:4089–4101 - PubMed
    1. Boras-Granic K., Wysolmerski J.J. 2008. Wnt signaling in breast organogenesis.Organogenesis. 4:116–122 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chu E.Y., Hens J., Andl T., Kairo A., Yamaguchi T.P., Brisken C., Glick A., Wysolmerski J.J., Millar S.E. 2004. Canonical WNT signaling promotes mammary placode development and is essential for initiation of mammary gland morphogenesis.Development. 131:4819–4829 - PubMed
    1. Fiedler M., Sanchez-Barrena M.J., Nekrasov M., Mieszczanek J., Rybin V., Muller J., Evans P., Bienz M. 2008. Decoding of methylated histone H3 tail by the Pygo-BCL9 Wnt signaling complex.Mol. Cell. 30:507–518 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances