Identification of the Receptor of the Wnt-1 Signaling Molecule
Abstract
The Wnt family of secreted signaling molecules plays crucial roles in mammary tumorigenesis and embryonic development. The frizzled family of serpentine receptors has been shown to be capable of transducing the Wnt signal suggesting that a frizzled protein may encode for the receptor for Wnt- 1. This hypothesis was tested using the Xenopus axis duplication system using a co-injection strategy with pools of fz molecules and a Wntl-CD8 molecule. The ability of the fz molecules in one of the pools to mediate the secondary axis formation of Wntl-CD8 has lead to the identification of two fz proteins which may potentially serve as the Wnt- 1 receptor. However this strategy has been failed to delineate a single frizzled protein as a receptor suggesting there may be redundant functions of various frizzled molecules to transduce this signal. Experiments are now in progress to attempt to identify molecules that interact with the cytoplasmic portion of the frizzled receptor and dishevelled, a downstream effector, in an effort to understand the transduction of the Wnt signaling. The elucidation of downstream effectors for the Wnt- 1 signaling molecule can provide valuable insights into the molecular nature of mammary tumor formation and embryonic development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA386874
Entities
People
- Raymond Habas
- Xi He