Planarian Hedgehog/Patched establishes anterior-posterior polarity by regulating Wnt signaling.

ABSTRACT: Despite long-standing interest, the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment of anterior-posterior (AP) polarity remain among the unsolved mysteries in metazoans. In the planarians (a family of flatworms), canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is required for posterior specification, as it is in many animals. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating the posterior-specific induction of Wnt genes according to the AP polarity have remained unclear. Here, we demonstrate that Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is responsible for the establishment of AP polarity via its regulation of the transcription of Wnt family genes during planarian regeneration. We found that RNAi gene knockdown of Dugesia japonica patched (Djptc) caused ectopic tail formation in the anterior blastema of body fragments, r

SUBMITTER: Yazawa S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2799762 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature