title: Ectodermal Wnt/β-catenin signaling shapes the mouse face.
abstract: The canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway is an essential component of multiple developmental processes. To investigate the role of this pathway in the ectoderm during facial morphogenesis, we generated conditional β-catenin mouse mutants using a novel ectoderm-specific Cre recombinase transgenic line. Our results demonstrate that ablating or stabilizing β-catenin in the embryonic ectoderm causes dramatic changes in facial morphology. There are accompanying alterations in the expression of Fgf8 and Shh, key molecules that establish a signaling center critical for facial patterning, the frontonasal ectodermal zone (FEZ). These data indicate that Wnt/β-catenin signaling within the ectoderm is critical for facial development and further suggest that this pathway is an important mechanism for generating the diverse facial shapes of vertebrates during evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Craniofacial Biology and Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Denver, 12801 East 17th Avenue, PO Box 6511, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Bethany S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Vida Senkus
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Melvin
authors.forename: Makoto M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Taketo
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051519:Fibroblast Growth Factor 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8 / Q000378:metabolism; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; C496446:Fgf4 protein, mouse; C496457:Fgf8 protein, mouse; D051519:Fibroblast Growth Factor 4; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8