Induction of a secondary body axis in Xenopus by antibodies to β-catenin Journal Article
| Authors: | McCrea, P. D.; Brieher, W. M.; Gumbiner, B. M. |
| Article Title: | Induction of a secondary body axis in Xenopus by antibodies to β-catenin |
| Abstract: | We have obtained evidence that a known intracellular component of the cadherin cell-cell adhesion machinery, β-catenin, contributes to the development of the body axis in the frog Xenopus laevis. Vertebrate β-catenin is homologus to the Drosophila segment polarity gene product armadillo, and to vertebrate plakoglobin (McCrea, P. D., C. W. Turck, and B. Gumbiner. 1991. Science (Wash. DC). 254: J 1359-1361.). β-Catenin was found present in all Xenopus embryonic stages examined, and associated with C-cadherin, the major cadherin present in early Xenopus embryos. To test β-catenin's function, affinity purified Fab fragments were injected into ventral blastomeres of developing four-cell Xenopus embryos. A dramatic phenotype, the duplication of the dorsoanterior embryonic axis, was observed. Furthermore, Fab injections were capable of rescuing dorsal features in UV-ventralized embryos. Similar phenotypes have been observed in misexpression studies of the Wnt and other gene products, suggesting that β-catenin participates in a signaling pathway which specifies embryonic patterning. |
| Keywords: | controlled study; nonhuman; protein analysis; animal cell; phenotype; animal; cell division; gene expression; embryo; gene product; embryo development; vertebrata; anura; immunoprecipitation; immunoblotting; antibody specificity; cadherin; cell adhesion; cadherins; armadillo; microinjections; polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; protein antibody; cytoskeletal proteins; xenopus laevis; growth substances; immunoglobulin f(ab) fragment; human; female; priority journal; article; support, non-u.s. gov't; support, u.s. gov't, p.h.s.; embryo and fetal development; immunoglobulins, fab |
| Journal Title: | Journal of Cell Biology |
| Volume: | 123 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| ISSN: | 0021-9525 |
| Publisher: | Rockefeller University Press |
| Date Published: | 1993-10-15 |
| Start Page: | 477 |
| End Page: | 484 |
| Language: | English |
| DOI: | 10.1083/jcb.123.2.477 |
| PUBMED: | 8408227 |
| PROVIDER: | scopus |
| PMCID: | PMC2119835 |
| DOI/URL: | |
| Notes: | Article -- Export Date: 1 March 2019 -- Source: Scopus |
