Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wnt Regulation of Planar Cell
Polarity (PCP)
Bo Gao
1
National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
1
Corresponding author: e-mail address: gaob@mail.nih.gov
Contents
1.
Introduction
264
2. Wnt and Planar Cell Polarity
265
2.1 The PCP pathway
265
2.2 Global cues and PCP
268
2.3 Wnt signaling
272
2.4 Wnt signaling gradients establish PCP
276
3. Missing Link Between Wnt and PCP
280
4. Conclusion
284
Acknowledgment
285
References
286
Abstract
Planar cell polarity (PCP), a process controlling coordinated, uniformly polarized cellular
behaviors in a field of cells, has been identified to be critically required for many fun-
damental developmental processes. However, a global directional cue that establishes
PCP in a three-dimensional tissue or organ with respect to the body axes remains elu-
sive. In vertebrate, while Wnt-secreted signaling molecules have been implicated in reg-
ulating PCP in a
b
-catenin-independent manner, whether they function permissively or
act as a global cue to convey directional information is not clearly defined. In addition,
the underlying molecular mechanism by which Wnt signal is transduced to core PCP
proteins is largely unknown. In this chapter, I review the roles of Wnt signaling in reg-
ulating PCP during vertebrate development and update our knowledge of its regulatory
mechanism.
