The DOI matches its Crossref record; 30 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Unexpected complexity of the Wnt gene family in a sea anemone
Abstract
The Wnt gene family encodes secreted signalling molecules that control cell fate in animal development and human diseases. Despite its significance, the evolution of this metazoan-specific protein family is unclear. In vertebrates, twelve Wnt subfamilies were defined, of which only six have counterparts in Ecdysozoa (for example, Drosophila and Caenorhabditis). Here, we report the isolation of twelve Wnt genes from the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, a species representing the basal group within cnidarians. Cnidarians are diploblastic animals and the sister-group to bilaterian metazoans. Phylogenetic analyses of N. vectensis Wnt genes reveal a thus far unpredicted ancestral diversity within the Wnt family. Cnidarians and bilaterians have at least eleven of the twelve known Wnt gene subfamilies in common; five subfamilies appear to be lost in the protostome lineage. Expression patterns of Wnt genes during N. vectensis embryogenesis indicate distinct roles of Wnts in gastrulation, resulting in serial overlapping expression domains along the primary axis of the planula larva. This unexpectedly complex inventory of Wnt family signalling factors evolved in early multi-cellular animals about 650 million years (Myr) ago, predating the Cambrian explosion by at least 100 Myr (refs 5, 8). It emphasizes the crucial function of Wnt genes in the diversification of eumetazoan body plans.
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“Nematostella has several clusters of homeobox genes (56)(57)(58), but only those on scaffolds 3 and 61 are embedded within the ancestral eumetazoan Hox context, providing independent support for the assignment of these homeobox genes as bona fide Nematostella Hox genes (54,56,59).”
From Sea Anemone Genome Reveals Ancestral Eumetazoan Gene Repertoire and Genomic Organization (2007) · cites this paper as [58]
In the citing paper
“S. purpuratus has WntA, previously reported as being absent from deuterostomes (29).”
From The Genome of the Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (2006) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“These patterns are reminiscent of the nested expression domains of Wnt ligands in the Nematostella embryos 20 .”
From Developmental gene expression provides clues to relationships between sponge and eumetazoan body plans (2014) · cites this paper as [20]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kusserow, A., Pang, K., Sturm, C., Hrouda, M., Lentfer, J., Schmidt, H. A., Technau, U., von Haeseler, A., Hobmayer, B., Martindale, M. Q., & Holstein, T. W.
- Affiliations
- Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- John von Neumann Institute for Computing (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Martindale, Mark Q.
- Holstein, Thomas W.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2005-01-13
- Volume
- 433
- Issue
- 7022
- Pages
- 156-160
- ISSN
- 1465-7392 (ISSN-L)
- 0028-0836
- 1476-4679
- OpenAlex
- W2155603123
- Semantic Scholar
- 7e9fcb05458c57b86ed8a841f431aa109a5baea4
- Cited by
- 599
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 44.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature Cell Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- JuSER (Forschungszentrum Jülich) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer
- Keywords
- Wnt gene family, Nematostella vectensis, Cnidaria, embryonic development, gastrulation, planula larvae, Cambrian explosion, phylogenetic analysis, gene expression patterns
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bayes Theorem, Cloning, Molecular, Multigene Family, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, RNA, Messenger, Sea Anemones, Sequence Alignment, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Evolution, Molecular, Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Embryonic Development, Wnt Proteins
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