QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online 11 February 2009
doi: 10.1242/dev.033761

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material OA All Versions of this Article: dev.033761v1 136/6/905    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Adell, T. Articles by Bartscherer, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Adell, T. Articles by Bartscherer, K. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Smed-Evi/Wntless is required for β-catenin-dependent and -independent processes during planarian regeneration

¹ Department of Genetics and Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
² German Cancer Research Center, Division of Signaling and Functional Genomics, and University of Heidelberg/Faculty of Medicine Mannheim, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: k.bartscherer{at}dkfz.de)

Accepted 12 January 2009

SUMMARY

Planarians can regenerate a whole animal from only a small piece of their body, and have become an important model for stem cell biology. To identify regenerative processes dependent on Wnt growth factors in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea (Smed), we analyzed RNAi phenotypes of Evi, a transmembrane protein specifically required for the secretion of Wnt ligands. We show that, during regeneration, Smed-evi loss-of-function prevents posterior identity, leading to two-headed planarians that resemble Smed-β-catenin1 RNAi animals. In addition, we observe regeneration defects of the nervous system that are not found after Smed-β-catenin1 RNAi. By systematic knockdown of all putative Smed Wnts in regenerating planarians, we identify Smed-WntP-1 and Smed-Wnt11-2 as the putative posterior organizers, and demonstrate that Smed-Wnt5 is a regulator of neuronal organization and growth. Thus, our study provides evidence that planarian Wnts are major regulators of regeneration, and that they signal through β-catenin-dependent and -independent pathways.

Key words: Anteroposterior axis, Brain patterning, Evi/Wls, Planarians, Regeneration, Wnt signaling

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Wnt double duty in regenerating planaria

Development 2009 136: e601. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. P. Petersen and P. W. Reddien A wound-induced Wnt expression program controls planarian regeneration polarity PNAS, October 6, 2009; 106(40): 17061 - 17066. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. S. Stappenbeck and H. Miyoshi The Role of Stromal Stem Cells in Tissue Regeneration and Wound Repair Science, June 26, 2009; 324(5935): 1666 - 1669. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]