Early perturbation of Wnt signaling reveals patterning and invagination-evagination control points in molar tooth development.

ABSTRACT: Tooth formation requires complex signaling interactions both within the oral epithelium and between the epithelium and the underlying mesenchyme. Previous studies of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway have shown that tooth formation is partly inhibited in loss-of-function mutants, and gain-of-function mutants have perturbed tooth morphology. However, the stage at which Wnt signaling is first important in tooth formation remains unclear. Here, using an Fgf8-promoter-driven, and therefore early, deletion of β-catenin in mouse molar epithelium, we found that loss of Wnt/β-catenin signaling completely deletes the molar tooth, demonstrating that this pathway is central to the earliest stages of tooth formation. Early expression of a dominant-active β-catenin protein also perturbs tooth formation, produc

SUBMITTER: Kim R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8326921 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature