title: Cwnt-8C: a novel Wnt gene with a potential role in primitive streak formation and hindbrain organization.
abstract: To begin to examine the possibility that Wnt proteins act as cell signalling molecules during chick embryogenesis, PCR was used to identify Wnt genes expressed in Hensen's node. We have identified a novel member of the Wnt gene family, Cwnt-8C, which is expressed prior to gastrulation in the posterior marginal zone, the primitive streak and Hensen's node. Injection of Cwnt-8C mRNA into Xenopus embryos caused axis duplication and dorsalization of mesodermal tissues. During neurulation, Cwnt-8C is expressed transiently in a restricted domain of the prospective hindbrain neurectoderm that will give rise to rhombomere 4. This domain is defined prior to the formation of rhombomere boundaries and also precedes the up-regulation and restriction of expression of Hox B1 in the same region. Thus, Cwnt-8C is potentially involved in the regulation of axis formation and hindbrain patterning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Hume
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dodd
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004627:Embryonic Induction / Q000235:genetics*; D005775:Gastrula / Q000502:physiology*; D005796:Genes / Q000502:physiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051381:Rats; D012249:Rhombencephalon / Q000196:embryology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics