Molecular cloning and characterization of mouse Wnt14b, clustered with mouse Wnt3 in mouse chromosome 11.

WNTs are a family of secreted-type glycoproteins implicated in embryogenesis and carcinogenesis. We have previously cloned and characterized human WNT2B/WNT13, WNT3, WNT3A, WNT5B, WNT6, WNT7B, WNT8A, WNT8B, WNT10A, WNT10B, WNT11, WNT14, and WNT14B/WNT15. WNT14B gene is clustered with WNT3 gene in human chromosome 17q21, and mRNA expression of WNT14B is significantly up-regulated by retinoic acid during the early phase of neuronal differentiation in human NT2 cells. Here, we identified mouse Wnt14b gene fragments in mouse genome draft sequence AL596108.5 by using bioinformatics, and isolated mouse Wnt14b cDNAs by using cDNA-PCR. Mouse Wnt14b was found to encode a 359-amino-acid WNT family protein with the N-terminal signal peptide, an N-linked glycosylation site, and 24 conserved cysteine residues. Mouse Wnt14b showed 92.5% total-amino-acid identity with human WNT14B, and 64.2% total-amino-acid identity with human WNT14. Mouse Wnt14b gene, consisting of 4 exons, was clustered with mouse Wnt3 gene in mouse chromosome 11. Mouse Wnt14b mRNA was relatively highly expressed in 17-day embryo, and also expressed in adult brain, kidney, liver, 7-day embryo, and 11-day embryo. This is the first report on molecular cloning and characterization of mouse Wnt14b.