A member of the Frizzled protein family mediating axis induction by Wnt-5A

  • Science. 1997 Mar 14;275(5306):1652-4. doi: 10.1126/science.275.5306.1652.
X He  1 ,  J P Saint-Jeannet ,  Y Wang ,  J Nathans ,  I Dawid ,  H Varmus
Affiliations
  • 1. National Cancer Institute, Building 49, Room 4A56, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. xhe.nhgri.nih.gov
PMID: 9054360 DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5306.1652
Abstract

In Xenopus laevis embryos, the Wingless/Wnt-1 subclass of Wnt molecules induces axis duplication, whereas the Wnt-5A subclass does not. This difference could be explained by distinct signal transduction pathways or by a lack of one or more Wnt-5A receptors during axis formation. Wnt-5A induced axis duplication and an ectopic Spemann organizer in the presence of hFz5, a member of the Frizzled family of seven-transmembrane receptors. Wnt-5A/hFz5 signaling was antagonized by glycogen synthase kinase-3 and by the amino-terminal ectodomain of hFz5. These results identify hFz5 as a receptor for Wnt-5A.