|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online 15 August 2007
doi: 10.1242/dev.005132
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
2 Hubrecht Laboratory, Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology,
Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands.
3 Howard Hughes Medical Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305,
USA.
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jhelms{at}stanford.edu)
Accepted 27 June 2007
At early stages of development, the faces of vertebrate embryos look remarkably similar, yet within a very short timeframe they adopt species-specific facial characteristics. What are the mechanisms underlying this regional specification of the vertebrate face? Using transgenic Wnt reporter embryos we found a highly conserved pattern of Wnt responsiveness in the developing mouse face that later corresponded to derivatives of the frontonasal and maxillary prominences. We explored the consequences of disrupting Wnt signaling, first using a genetic approach. Mice carrying compound null mutations in the nuclear mediators Lef1 and Tcf4 exhibited radically altered facial features that culminated in a hyperteloric appearance and a foreshortened midface. We also used a biochemical approach to perturb Wnt signaling and found that in utero delivery of a Wnt antagonist, Dkk1, produced similar midfacial malformations. We tested the hypothesis that Wnt signaling is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism controlling facial morphogenesis by determining the pattern of Wnt responsiveness in avian faces, and then by evaluating the consequences of Wnt inhibition in the chick face. Collectively, these data elucidate a new role for Wnt signaling in regional specification of the vertebrate face, and suggest possible mechanisms whereby species-specific facial features are generated.
Key words: Wnt, Craniofacial, Patterning, Axes formation, Maxilla, Frontonasal prominence, Species-specific facial features
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
Related articles in Development:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  L. Song, Y. Li, K. Wang, Y.-Z. Wang, A. Molotkov, L. Gao, T. Zhao, T. Yamagami, Y. Wang, Q. Gan, et al. Lrp6-mediated canonical Wnt signaling is required for lip formation and fusion Development, September 15, 2009; 136(18): 3161 - 3171. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Hu and R. S. Marcucio A SHH-responsive signaling center in the forebrain regulates craniofacial morphogenesis via the facial ectoderm Development, January 1, 2009; 136(1): 107 - 116. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
F. He, W. Xiong, X. Yu, R. Espinoza-Lewis, C. Liu, S. Gu, M. Nishita, K. Suzuki, G. Yamada, Y. Minami, et al. Wnt5a regulates directional cell migration and cell proliferation via Ror2-mediated noncanonical pathway in mammalian palate development Development, December 1, 2008; 135(23): 3871 - 3879. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. T. Chiquet, S. H. Blanton, A. Burt, D. Ma, S. Stal, J. B. Mulliken, and J. T. Hecht Variation in WNT genes is associated with non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate Hum. Mol. Genet., July 15, 2008; 17(14): 2212 - 2218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Pantalacci, A. Chaumot, G. Benoit, A. Sadier, F. Delsuc, E. J. P. Douzery, and V. Laudet Conserved Features and Evolutionary Shifts of the EDA Signaling Pathway Involved in Vertebrate Skin Appendage Development Mol. Biol. Evol., May 1, 2008; 25(5): 912 - 928. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
