@article {Wada:May 2008:0012-1592:215,
author = "Wada, Shuichi",
author = "Hamada, Mayuko",
author = "Kobayashi, Kenji",
author = "Satoh, Nori",
title = "Novel genes involved in canonical Wnt/-catenin signaling pathway in early Ciona intestinalis embryos",
journal = "Development Growth & Differentiation",
volume = "50",
year = "May 2008",
abstract = "We report here characterization of five genes for novel components of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. These genes were identified in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis through a loss-of-function screening for genes required for embryogenesis with morpholinos, and four of them have counterparts in vertebrates. The five genes we studied are as follows: Ci-PGAP1, a Ciona orthologue of human PGAP1, which encodes GPI (glycosylphosphatidylinositol) inositol-deacylase, Ci-ZF278, a gene encoding a C2H2 zinc-finger protein, Ci-C10orf11, a Ciona orthologue of human C10orf11 that encodes a protein with leucine-rich repeats, Ci-Spatial/C4orf17, a single counterpart for two human genes Spatial and C4orf17, and Ci-FLJ10634, a Ciona orthologue of human FLJ10634 that encodes a member of the J-protein family. Knockdown of each of the genes mimicked β-catenin knockdown and resulted in suppression of the expression of β-catenin downstream genes (Ci-FoxD, Ci-Lhx3, Ci-Otx and Ci-Fgf9/16/20) and subsequent endoderm formation. For every gene, defects in knockdown embryos were rescued by overexpression of a constitutively active form, but not wild-type, of Ci-β-catenin. Dosage-sensitive interactions were found between Ci-β-catenin and each of the genes. These results suggest that these five genes act upstream of or parallel to Ci-β-catenin in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in early Ciona embryos.",
pages = "215-227(13)",
url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/dgd/2008/00000050/00000004/art00002"
doi = "doi:10.1111/j.1440-169X.2008.01012.x"
}