Wnt/β-catenin signaling is an evolutionarily conserved determinant of chordate dorsal organizer

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
Metrics

Abstract

Deciphering the mechanisms of axis formation in amphioxus is a key step to understanding the evolution of chordate body plan. The current view is that Nodal signaling is the only factor promoting the dorsal axis specification in the amphioxus whereas Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays no role in this process. Here, we re-examined the role of Wnt/βcatenin signaling in the dorsal/ventral patterning of amphioxus embryo. We demonstrated that the spatial activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is located in presumptive dorsal cells from cleavage to gastrula stage, and provided functional evidence that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is necessary for the specification of dorsal cell fate in a stage-dependent manner. Microinjection of Wnt8 and Wnt11 mRNA induced ectopic dorsal axis in neurulae and larvae. Finally, we demonstrated that Nodal and Wnt/β-catenin signaling cooperate to promote the dorsal-specific gene expression in amphioxus gastrula. Our study reveals high evolutionary conservation of dorsal organizer formation in the chordate lineage.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

Iryna Kozmikova

Laboratory of Transcriptional Regulation, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic

For correspondence
kozmikova@img.cas.cz

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7861-9802
Zbynek Kozmik

Laboratory of Transcriptional Regulation, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Grantová Agentura České Republiky (GACR 15-21285J)

Iryna Kozmikova

Grantová Agentura České Republiky (GACR 17-15374S)

Zbynek Kozmik

Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy (ERDF,project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001775)

Iryna Kozmikova

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.