Letter abstract
Nature Cell Biology 9, 813 - 821 (2007)
Published online: 10 June 2007 | doi:10.1038/ncb1607
Wnt signalling regulates paxillin ubiquitination essential for mesodermal cell motility
Hidekazu Iioka1, Shun-ichiro Iemura2, Tohru Natsume2 & Noriyuki Kinoshita1,3
Gastrulation movements are critical for establishing the three germ layers and the architecture of vertebrate embryos. During Xenopus laevis gastrulation, mesodermal tissue migrates on the blastocoel roof and elongates along the antero-posterior axis1, 2. During this process, cells in the dorsal mesoderm are polarized and intercalate with each other, which is defined as convergent extension and is known to be regulated by the non-canonical Wnt pathway3, 4, 5. Here, we show that paxillin plays an essential role in this process. Paxillin is a focal-adhesion associated protein implicated in the regulation of actin cytoskeletal organization and cell motility6, 7, but its role in Xenopus embryogenesis has not yet been clarified. We demonstrate that the Wnt pathway controls the ubiquitination and stability of paxillin, and that this regulatory mechanism is essential for convergent extension movements. We identified a RING finger protein XRNF185, which physically binds to paxillin and the proteasome. XRNF185 destabilizes paxillin at focal adhesions and promotes mesodermal cell migration during convergent extension. We propose a mechanism to regulate gastrulation movements that involves paxillin ubiquitination and stability controlled by Wnt signalling.
- Department of Developmental Biology; National Institute for Basic Biology; Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
- National Institutes of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; Biological Information Research Center; Tokyo 135-0064, Japan.
- Department of Molecular Biomechanics; The Graduate University for Advanced Studies; Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
Correspondence to: Noriyuki Kinoshita1,3 e-mail: nkinoshi@nibb.ac.jp
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
A role for Wnts in morpho-genesis and tissue polarityNature Cell Biology News and Views (01 Jul 2000)
Noggin the dorsalizerNature News and Views (11 Feb 1993)
RESEARCH
Dishevelled controls cell polarity during Xenopus gastrulationNature Letters to Editor (04 May 2000)
XRab40 and XCullin5 form a ubiquitin ligase complex essential for the noncanonical Wnt pathwayThe EMBO Journal Article
See all 76 matches for Research