title: Dissecting nuclear Wingless signalling: recruitment of the transcriptional co-activator Pygopus by a chain of adaptor proteins.
abstract: Members of the Wingless (Wg)/Wnt family of secreted glycoproteins control cell fate during embryonic development and adult homeostasis. Wnt signals regulate the expression of target genes by activating a conserved signal transduction pathway. Upon receptor activation, the signal is transmitted intracellularly by stabilization of Armadillo (Arm)/beta-catenin. Arm/beta-catenin translocates to the nucleus, interacts with DNA-binding factors of the Pangolin (Pan)/TCF/LEF class and activates transcription of target genes in cooperation with the recently identified proteins Legless/BCL9 (Lgs) and Pygopus (Pygo). Here, we analyse the mode of action of Pan, Arm, Lgs, and Pygo in Drosophila cultured cells. We provide evidence that together these four proteins form a 'chain of adaptors' linking the NH2-terminal homology domain (NHD) of Pygo to the DNA-binding domain of Pan. We show that the NHD has potent transcriptional activation capacity, which differs from that of acidic activator domains and depends on a conserved NPF tripeptide. A single point mutation within this NPF motif abolishes the transcriptional activity of the Pygo NHD in vitro and strongly reduces Wg signalling in vivo. Together, our results suggest that the transcriptional output of Wg pathway activity largely relies on a 'chain of adaptors' design to direct the Pygo NHD to Wg target promoters in an Arm-dependent manner.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Molekularbiologie, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Reto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Städeli
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Basler
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000378:metabolism*; D000483:Alleles; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
chemical_list: C495305:ARM protein, Drosophila; D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; C453403:Lgs protein, Drosophila; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C115159:pan protein, Drosophila; C453400:pygo protein, Drosophila; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila