PUBLICATION

β-Catenin-Dependent Control of Positional Information along the AP Body Axis in Planarians Involves a Teashirt Family Member

Authors
Reuter, H., März, M., Vogg, M.C., Eccles, D., Grífol-Boldú, L., Wehner, D., Owlarn, S., Adell, T., Weidinger, G., Bartscherer, K.
ID
ZDB-PUB-150106-1
Date
2015
Source
Cell Reports   10(2): 253-65 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Wehner, Daniel, Weidinger, Gilbert
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Body Patterning/physiology*
  • Collagen/metabolism
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins/genetics
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins/metabolism
  • Helminth Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
  • Helminth Proteins/genetics
  • Helminth Proteins/metabolism*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Planarians
  • RNA Interference
  • RNA, Double-Stranded/metabolism
  • Regeneration
  • Repressor Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
  • Repressor Proteins/genetics
  • Repressor Proteins/metabolism*
  • Stem Cells/cytology
  • Stem Cells/metabolism
  • Transcriptome
  • Wnt Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
  • Wnt Proteins/metabolism
  • Wnt Signaling Pathway
  • Zebrafish
  • beta Catenin/antagonists & inhibitors
  • beta Catenin/genetics
  • beta Catenin/metabolism*
PubMed
25558068 Full text @ Cell Rep.
Abstract
Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates tissue homeostasis and regeneration in metazoans. In planarians-flatworms with high regenerative potential-Wnt ligands are thought to control tissue polarity by shaping a β-catenin activity gradient along the anterior-posterior axis, yet the downstream mechanisms are poorly understood. We performed an RNA sequencing (RNA-seq)-based screen and identified hundreds of β-catenin-dependent transcripts, of which several were expressed in muscle tissue and stem cells in a graded fashion. In particular, a teashirt (tsh) ortholog was induced in a β-catenin-dependent manner during regeneration in planarians and zebrafish, and RNAi resulted in two-headed planarians. Strikingly, intact planarians depleted of tsh induced anterior markers and slowly transformed their tail into a head, reminiscent of β-catenin RNAi phenotypes. Given that β-catenin RNAi enhanced the formation of muscle cells expressing anterior determinants in tail regions, our study suggests that this pathway controls tissue polarity through regulating the identity of differentiating cells during homeostasis and regeneration.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping