title: Measuring CamKII activity in Xenopus embryos as a read-out for non-canonical Wnt signaling.
abstract: It has been known for quite some time that not all members of the Wnt family induce the formation of a secondary body axis when ectopically expressed in Xenopus embryos. An ingenious hypothesis led to the discovery that some Wnt ligands have the capacity to elicit intracellular Ca2+ signaling. This finding has been studied in more detail in the past years, which has revealed an intriguing complexity of Wnt signaling. The significance of a Wnt-induced Ca(2+)-mediated pathway during development has been demonstrated in various model systems so far and includes processes such as dorsal-ventral patterning, regulation of the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway, tumor formation, bone formation, and regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions. Here we describe two assays to measure the activation of the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase (CamK)-II, a Ca(2+)-sensitive molecule described as a mediator of a non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: University of Ulm, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kühl
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pandur
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods*; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2