Bänziger Carla, Soldini Davide, Schütt Corina, Zipperlen Peder, Hausmann George, Basler Konrad
Institut für Molekularbiologie, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
Cell. 2006 May 5;125(3):509-22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.02.049.
Cell-cell communication via Wnt signals represents a fundamental means by which animal development and homeostasis are controlled. The identification of components of the Wnt pathway is reaching saturation for the transduction process in receiving cells but is incomplete concerning the events occurring in Wnt-secreting cells. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel Wnt pathway component, Wntless (Wls/Evi), and show that it is required for Wingless-dependent patterning processes in Drosophila, for MOM-2-governed polarization of blastomeres in C. elegans, and for Wnt3a-mediated communication between cultured human cells. In each of these cases, Wls is acting in the Wnt-sending cells to promote the secretion of Wnt proteins. Since loss of Wls function has no effect on other signaling pathways yet appears to impede all the Wnt signals we analyzed, we propose that Wls represents an ancient partner for Wnts dedicated to promoting their secretion into the extracellular milieu.
通过Wnt信号进行的细胞间通讯是控制动物发育和体内平衡的一种基本方式。Wnt信号通路成分的鉴定在接收细胞的转导过程方面已接近饱和，但在Wnt分泌细胞中发生的事件方面尚不完整。在这里，我们描述了一种新型Wnt信号通路成分Wntless（Wls/Evi）的发现，并表明它在果蝇中是无翅依赖的模式形成过程所必需的，在秀丽隐杆线虫中是MOM-2调控的卵裂球极化所必需的，在培养的人类细胞中是Wnt3a介导的通讯所必需的。在上述每种情况下，Wls都在Wnt分泌细胞中起作用以促进Wnt蛋白的分泌。由于Wls功能的丧失对其他信号通路没有影响，但似乎会阻碍我们分析的所有Wnt信号，因此我们提出Wls是Wnts的一个古老伙伴，专门致力于促进它们分泌到细胞外环境中。
