A new nuclear component of the Wnt signalling pathway

B Thompson, F Townsley, R Rosin-Arbesfeld… - Nature cell …, 2002 - nature.com
B Thompson, F Townsley, R Rosin-Arbesfeld, H Musisi, M Bienz
Nature cell biology, 2002nature.com
The Wnt signalling pathway is pivotal in normal and malignant development. A key effector
is Armadillo (Arm)/β-catenin, which functions with TCF to transcribe Wnt target-genes. Here,
we report the discovery of pygopus (pygo), whose mutant phenotypes specifically mimic loss-
of-Wingless (Wg) signalling. pygo is required for dTCF-mediated transcription, but not for Wg-
induced stabilization of Arm. Pygo is a nuclear protein that is found in a complex with Arm in
vivo. Humans possess two Pygo proteins, both of which are required for TCF-mediated …
Abstract
The Wnt signalling pathway is pivotal in normal and malignant development. A key effector is Armadillo (Arm)/β-catenin, which functions with TCF to transcribe Wnt target-genes. Here, we report the discovery of pygopus (pygo), whose mutant phenotypes specifically mimic loss-of-Wingless (Wg) signalling. pygo is required for dTCF-mediated transcription, but not for Wg-induced stabilization of Arm. Pygo is a nuclear protein that is found in a complex with Arm in vivo. Humans possess two Pygo proteins, both of which are required for TCF-mediated transcription in colorectal cancer cells. The presence of a PHD domain implicates Pygo proteins in a chromatin-related function, and we propose that they mediate chromatin access to TCF or Arm/β-catenin.
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