Wnt/β-catenin signaling and asymmetric cell division are essential to development and homeostasis in metazoans; these two mechanisms join into one in the Wnt/β-catenin Asymmetry (WβA) pathway in the nematode C. elegans. In WβA, nuclear asymmetry of two β-catenins, SYS-1 and WRM-1, is achieved by two parallel pathways that reduce SYS-1 and WRM-1 levels in the anterior daughter and increase their levels in the posterior daughter. While it is known that many conserved regulators of Wnt signaling are involved in WβA, how these components interact to achieve SYS-1 and WRM-1 asymmetry is not well understood. In this thesis, genetics, transgenics, and live-imaging are used to demonstrate how WβA regulates it’s multiple outputs. It is shown that APR-1/APC and PRY-1/Axin control asymmetric localization of both SYS-1 and WRM-1, and that Wnt signaling explicitly controls APR-1 regulation of either β-catenin via the kinase KIN-19/CKIα. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the Dishevelled proteins DSH-2 and MIG-5 are positive regulators of SYS-1, but negative regulators of WRM-1. Additionally, data from a screen designed to identify novel kinase regulators of Wnt signaling/asymmetric cell division is presented. Overall, this thesis takes current knowledge of conserved Wnt signaling component function and provides a compelling model of how those components are adapted to asymmetric cell division.
Dissertation
Wnt signaling and β-catenin regulation during asymmetric cell division in Caenorhabditis elegans
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2015
DOI: 10.17077/etd.7sma1fm7
Free to read and download, Open Access
Abstract
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Wnt signaling and β-catenin regulation during asymmetric cell division in Caenorhabditis elegans
- Creators
- Austin Thomas Baldwin - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- Bryan T. Phillips (Advisor)Diane Slusarski (Committee Member)Sarit Smolikove (Committee Member)Douglas Houston (Committee Member)Andy Frank (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Biology
- Date degree season
- Summer 2015
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.7sma1fm7
- Number of pages
- x, 101 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2015 Austin Thomas Baldwin
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- color illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 87-101).
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Record Identifier
- 9983776860402771
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