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Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain

BACKGROUND: Wnt signalling regulates multiple aspects of brain development in vertebrate embryos. A large number of Wnts are expressed in the embryonic forebrain; however, it is poorly understood which specific Wnt performs which function and how they interact. Wnts are able to activate different in...

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Autores principales: Quinlan, Robyn, Graf, Manuela, Mason, Ivor, Lumsden, Andrew, Kiecker, Clemens
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19732418
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1749-8104-4-35
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author Quinlan, Robyn
Graf, Manuela
Mason, Ivor
Lumsden, Andrew
Kiecker, Clemens
author_facet Quinlan, Robyn
Graf, Manuela
Mason, Ivor
Lumsden, Andrew
Kiecker, Clemens
author_sort Quinlan, Robyn
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Wnt signalling regulates multiple aspects of brain development in vertebrate embryos. A large number of Wnts are expressed in the embryonic forebrain; however, it is poorly understood which specific Wnt performs which function and how they interact. Wnts are able to activate different intracellular pathways, but which of these pathways become activated in different brain subdivisions also remains enigmatic. RESULTS: We have compiled the first comprehensive spatiotemporal atlas of Wnt pathway gene expression at critical stages of forebrain regionalisation in the chick embryo and found that most of these genes are expressed in strikingly dynamic and complex patterns. Several expression domains do not respect proposed compartment boundaries in the developing forebrain, suggesting that areal identities are more dynamic than previously thought. Using an in ovo electroporation approach, we show that Wnt4 expression in the thalamus is negatively regulated by Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling from the zona limitans intrathalamica (ZLI), a known organising centre of forebrain development. CONCLUSION: The forebrain is exposed to a multitude of Wnts and Wnt inhibitors that are expressed in a highly dynamic and complex fashion, precluding simple correlative conclusions about their respective functions or signalling mechanisms. In various biological systems, Wnts are antagonised by Shh signalling. By demonstrating that Wnt4 expression in the thalamus is repressed by Shh from the ZLI we reveal an additional level of interaction between these two pathways and provide an example for the cross-regulation between patterning centres during forebrain regionalisation.
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spelling pubmed-27570232009-10-06 Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain Quinlan, Robyn Graf, Manuela Mason, Ivor Lumsden, Andrew Kiecker, Clemens Neural Dev Research Article BACKGROUND: Wnt signalling regulates multiple aspects of brain development in vertebrate embryos. A large number of Wnts are expressed in the embryonic forebrain; however, it is poorly understood which specific Wnt performs which function and how they interact. Wnts are able to activate different intracellular pathways, but which of these pathways become activated in different brain subdivisions also remains enigmatic. RESULTS: We have compiled the first comprehensive spatiotemporal atlas of Wnt pathway gene expression at critical stages of forebrain regionalisation in the chick embryo and found that most of these genes are expressed in strikingly dynamic and complex patterns. Several expression domains do not respect proposed compartment boundaries in the developing forebrain, suggesting that areal identities are more dynamic than previously thought. Using an in ovo electroporation approach, we show that Wnt4 expression in the thalamus is negatively regulated by Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling from the zona limitans intrathalamica (ZLI), a known organising centre of forebrain development. CONCLUSION: The forebrain is exposed to a multitude of Wnts and Wnt inhibitors that are expressed in a highly dynamic and complex fashion, precluding simple correlative conclusions about their respective functions or signalling mechanisms. In various biological systems, Wnts are antagonised by Shh signalling. By demonstrating that Wnt4 expression in the thalamus is repressed by Shh from the ZLI we reveal an additional level of interaction between these two pathways and provide an example for the cross-regulation between patterning centres during forebrain regionalisation. BioMed Central 2009-09-04 /pmc/articles/PMC2757023/ /pubmed/19732418 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1749-8104-4-35 Text en Copyright © 2009 Quinlan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Quinlan, Robyn
Graf, Manuela
Mason, Ivor
Lumsden, Andrew
Kiecker, Clemens
Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title_full Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title_fullStr Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title_full_unstemmed Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title_short Complex and dynamic patterns of Wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
title_sort complex and dynamic patterns of wnt pathway gene expression in the developing chick forebrain
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2757023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19732418
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1749-8104-4-35
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