title: β-Catenin in pluripotency: adhering to self-renewal or Wnting to differentiate?
abstract: β-Catenin is involved both in cadherin-mediated intercellular adhesion and transcriptional coactivation downstream of the Wnt signaling pathway. Accumulation of β-catenin by inhibition or knockout of its negative regulator GSK3 is known to sustain pluripotency in conjunction with other factors. However, dual function of β-catenin and context-dependence of its activities make it difficult to dissect the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. β-Catenin transactivation function, which is considered to be associated with Wnt signaling, proved to be largely dispensable for the self-renewal of naïve embryonic stem cells, but required for differentiation. Instead, β-catenin-mediated adhesion is beneficial for self-renewal, though presumably its main role is to stabilize LIF/STAT3 pathway rather than to maintain intercellular contacts per se. Yet recent report implicates E-cadherin-independent cytoplasm activity of β-catenin in pluripotency maintenance. This review focuses on the new data concerning adhesion- and transcription-related activities of β-catenin in control of self-renewal versus differentiation in pluripotent stem cells, as well as analyzing binding partners of β-catenin in embryonic stem cells, which include key pluripotency regulators.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Galina S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Sineva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia; Department of Cytology and Histology, Biological Faculty, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: pospelov_v@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Valery A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Pospelov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000502:physiology; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000502:physiology*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C507837:LIF protein, human; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human; D051176:beta Catenin; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3
keywords: Cadherin; Cell differentiation; Embryonic stem cells; Pluripotency; Tcf; β-Catenin