A new secreted protein that binds to Wnt proteins and inhibits their activities.
Submitted by admin on Thu, 10/14/2010 - 22:44
| Title | A new secreted protein that binds to Wnt proteins and inhibits their activities. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 1999 |
| Authors | Hsieh JC, Kodjabachian L, Rebbert ML, Rattner A, Smallwood PM, Samos CH, Nusse R, Dawid IB, Nathans J |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 398 |
| Pagination | 431–436 |
| Date Published | Apr |
| ISSN | 0028-0836 (Print); 0028-0836 (Linking) |
| Abstract | The Wnt proteins constitute a large family of extracellular signalling molecules that are found throughout the animal kingdom and are important for a wide variety of normal and pathological developmental processes. Here we describe Wnt-inhibitory factor-1 (WIF-1), a secreted protein that binds to Wnt proteins and inhibits their activities. WIF-1 is present in fish, amphibia and mammals, and is expressed during Xenopus and zebrafish development in a complex pattern that includes paraxial presomitic mesoderm, notochord, branchial arches and neural crest derivatives. We use Xenopus embryos to show that WIF-1 overexpression affects somitogenesis (the generation of trunk mesoderm segments), in agreement with its normal expression in paraxial mesoderm. In vitro, WIF-1 binds to Drosophila Wingless and Xenopus Wnt8 produced by Drosophila S2 cells. Together with earlier results obtained with the secreted Frizzled-related proteins, our results indicate that Wnt proteins interact with structurally diverse extracellular inhibitors, presumably to fine-tune the spatial and temporal patterns of Wnt activity. |
| DOI | 10.1038/18899 |
