pygopus Encodes a nuclear protein essential for wingless/Wnt signaling

Tatyana Y Belenkaya; Chun Han; Henrietta J Standley; Xinda Lin; Douglas W Houston; Janet Heasman; Xinhua Lin

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pygopus Encodes a nuclear protein essential for wingless/Wnt signaling

Journal article

Peer reviewed

pygopus Encodes a nuclear protein essential for wingless/Wnt signaling

Tatyana Y Belenkaya, Chun Han, Henrietta J Standley, Xinda Lin, Douglas W Houston, Janet Heasman and Xinhua Lin

Development (Cambridge), Vol.129(17), pp.4089-4101

09/2002

PMID: 12163411

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Abstract

The Wingless (Wg)/Wnt signal transduction pathway regulates many developmental processes through a complex of Armadillo(Arm)/beta-catenin and the HMG-box transcription factors of the Tcf family. We report the identification of a new component, Pygopus (Pygo), that plays an essential role in the Wg/Wnt signal transduction pathway. We show that Wg signaling is diminished during embryogenesis and imaginal disc development in the absence of pygo activity. Pygo acts downstream or in parallel with Arm to regulate the nuclear function of Arm protein. pygo encodes a novel and evolutionarily conserved nuclear protein bearing a PHD finger that is essential for its activity. We further show that Pygo can form a complex with Arm in vivo and possesses a transcription activation domain(s). Finally, we have isolated a Xenopus homolog of pygo (Xpygo). Depletion of maternal Xpygo by antisense deoxyoligonucleotides leads to ventralized embryonic defects and a reduction of the expression of Wnt target genes. Together, these findings demonstrate that Pygo is an essential component in the Wg/Wnt signal transduction pathway and is likely to act as a transcription co-activator required for the nuclear function of Arm/beta-catenin.

Carrier Proteins - physiology

Protein Structure, Tertiary

Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism

Wnt1 Protein

Xenopus

Amino Acid Sequence

Signal Transduction

Oocytes - metabolism

Drosophila

Larva - metabolism

Trans-Activators

Transcriptional Activation

Zebrafish Proteins

Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins

Molecular Sequence Data

Wnt Proteins

Carrier Proteins - genetics

Drosophila Proteins - physiology

Animals

Cell Nucleus - metabolism

Armadillo Domain Proteins

Transcription Factors

Drosophila Proteins - genetics

Insect Proteins - metabolism

Details

Title: Subtitle: pygopus Encodes a nuclear protein essential for wingless/Wnt signaling
Creators: Tatyana Y Belenkaya - Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, OH 45229, USA
Chun Han
Henrietta J Standley
Xinda Lin
Douglas W Houston
Janet Heasman
Xinhua Lin
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Development (Cambridge), Vol.129(17), pp.4089-4101
Publisher: England
PMID: 12163411
ISSN: 0950-1991
eISSN: 1477-9129
Grant note: GM63891-01 / NIGMS NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 09/2002
Academic Unit: Biology
Record Identifier: 9983991994902771

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