SRC-1 and Wnt Signaling Act Together to Specify Endoderm and to Control Cleavage Orientation in Early C. elegans Embryos

• Published in: Developmental cell Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 113 - 125
• Main Authors: Bei, Yanxia, Hogan, Jennifer, Berkowitz, Laura A., Soto, Martha, Rocheleau, Christian E., Pang, Ka Ming, Collins, John, Mello, Craig C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-07-2002
• Subjects: Animals; Body Patterning - physiology; Caenorhabditis elegans - cytology; Caenorhabditis elegans - embryology; Caenorhabditis elegans - metabolism; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Cell Division - physiology; Cell Lineage - physiology; Cell Polarity - physiology; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Embryo, Nonmammalian - cytology; Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism; Endoderm - cytology; Endoderm - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - physiology; Helminth Proteins - metabolism; High Mobility Group Proteins - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Phosphotyrosine - metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Signal Transduction - physiology; src-Family Kinases - genetics; src-Family Kinases - isolation & purification; src-Family Kinases - metabolism; Wnt Proteins; Zebrafish Proteins
• ISSN: 1534-5807; 1878-1551
• DOI: 10.1016/S1534-5807(02)00185-5

In early C. elegans embryos, signaling between a posterior blastomere, P2, and a ventral blastomere, EMS, specifies endoderm and orients the division axis of the EMS cell. Although Wnt signaling contributes to this polarizing interaction, no mutants identified to date abolish P2/EMS signaling. Here, we show that two tyrosine kinase-related genes, src-1 and mes-1, are required for the accumulation of phosphotyrosine between P2 and EMS. Moreover, src-1 and mes-1 mutants strongly enhance endoderm and EMS spindle rotation defects associated with Wnt pathway mutants. SRC-1 and MES-1 signal bidirectionally to control cell fate and division orientation in both EMS and P2. Our findings suggest that Wnt and Src signaling function in parallel to control developmental outcomes within a single responding cell.