title: Conserved Spätzle/Toll signaling in dorsoventral patterning of Xenopus embryos.
abstract: The Spätzle/Toll signaling pathway controls ventral axis formation in Drosophila by generating a gradient of nuclear Dorsal protein. Dorsal controls the downstream regulators dpp and sog, whose patterning functions are conserved between insects and vertebrates. Although there is no experimental evidence that the upstream events are conserved as well, we set out to ask if a vertebrate embryo can respond to maternal components of the fly Dorsal pathway. Here we demonstrate a dorsalizing activity for the heterologous Easter, Spätzle and Toll proteins in UV-ventralized Xenopus embryos, which is inhibited by a co-injected dominant Cactus variant. We conclude that the Dorsal signaling pathway is a component of the conserved dorsoventral (d/v) patterning system in bilateria.
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Miescher Laboratorium, MPG, Spemannstrasse 37-39, 72076, Tubingen, Germany.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steinbeisser
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prothmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: DeLotto
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rupp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001368:Axis, Cervical Vertebra / Q000196:embryology; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005799:Genes, Dominant / Q000502:physiology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C068721:Tl protein, Drosophila; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; C086179:spz protein, Drosophila; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C078099:ea protein, Drosophila