title: Characterization of sFRP2-like in amphioxus: insights into the evolutionary conservation of Wnt antagonizing function.
abstract: Wnt signaling plays a key role in embryonic patterning and morphogenetic movements. The secreted Frizzled-related proteins (sFRPs) antagonize Wnt signaling, but their roles in development are poorly understood. To determine whether function of sFRPs is conserved between amphioxus and vertebrates, we characterized sFRP2-like function in the amphioxus, Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense (B. belcheri). As in other species of Branchiostome, in B. belcheri, expression of sFRP2-like is restricted to the mesendoderm during gastrulation and to the anterior mesoderm and endoderm during neurulation. Functional analyses in frog (Xenopus laevis) indicate that amphioxus sFRP2-like potently inhibits both canonical and non-canonical Wnts. Thus, sFRP-2 probably functions in amphioxus embryos to inhibit Wnt signaling anteriorly. Moreover, dorsal overexpression of amphioxus sFRP2-like in Xenopus embryos, like inhibition of Wnt11, blocks gastrulation movements. This implies that sFRP2-like may also modulate Wnt signaling during gastrulation movements in amphioxus.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cells and Developmental Biology, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Yongjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tianxiao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: De-Li
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000235:genetics*; D004707:Endoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D054262:Gastrulation / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D054261:Neurulation / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000235:genetics; D014981:Xenopus; D000099274:Frizzled-Related Proteins
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D000099274:Frizzled-Related Proteins