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Hox and Wnt pattern the primary body axis of an anthozoan cnidarian before gastrulation.

ABSTRACT: Hox gene transcription factors are important regulators of positional identity along the anterior-posterior axis in bilaterian animals. Cnidarians (e.g., sea anemones, corals, and hydroids) are the sister group to the Bilateria and possess genes related to both anterior and central/posterior class Hox genes. Here we report a previously unrecognized domain of Hox expression in the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, beginning at early blastula stages. We explore the relationship of two opposing Hox genes (NvAx6/NvAx1) expressed on each side of the blastula during early development. Functional perturbation reveals that NvAx6 and NvAx1 not only regulate their respective expression domains, but also interact with Wnt genes to pattern the entire oral-aboral axis. These findings suggest an ancient link between Hox/Wnt patterning during axis formation and indicate that oral-aboral domains are likely established during blastula formation in anthozoan cnidarians.

SUBMITTER: DuBuc TQ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5964151 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hox and Wnt pattern the primary body axis of an anthozoan cnidarian before gastrulation.

DuBuc Timothy Q TQ Stephenson Thomas B TB Rock Amber Q AQ Martindale Mark Q MQ

Nature communications 20180522 1

Hox gene transcription factors are important regulators of positional identity along the anterior-posterior axis in bilaterian animals. Cnidarians (e.g., sea anemones, corals, and hydroids) are the sister group to the Bilateria and possess genes related to both anterior and central/posterior class Hox genes. Here we report a previously unrecognized domain of Hox expression in the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, beginning at early blastula stages. We explore the relationship of two o ...[more]

PMID: 29789526

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Project description:The primary axis of cnidarians runs from the oral pole to the apical tuft and defines the major body axis of both the planula larva and adult polyp. In the anthozoan cnidarian Nematostella vectensis, the primary oral-aboral (O-Ab) axis first develops during the early embryonic stage. Here, we present evidence that pharmaceutical activators of canonical wnt signaling affect molecular patterning along the primary axis of Nematostella. Although not overtly morphologically complex, molecular investigations in Nematostella reveal that the O-Ab axis is demarcated by the expression of differentially localized signaling molecules and transcription factors that may serve roles in establishing distinct ectodermal domains. We have further characterized the larval epithelium by determining the position of a nested set of molecular boundaries, utilizing several newly characterized as well as previously reported epithelial markers along the primary axis. We have assayed shifts in their position in control embryos and in embryos treated with the pharmacological agents alsterpaullone and azakenpaullone, Gsk3? inhibitors that act as canonical wnt agonists, and the Wnt antagonist iCRT14, following gastrulation. Agonist drug treatments result in an absence of aboral markers, a shift in the expression boundaries of oral markers toward the aboral pole, and changes in the position of differentially localized populations of neurons in a dose-dependent manner, while antagonist treatment had the opposite effect. These experiments are consistent with canonical wnt signaling playing a role in an orally localized wnt signaling center. These findings suggest that in Nematostella, wnt signaling mediates O-Ab ectodermal patterning across a surprisingly complex epithelium in planula stages following gastrulation in addition to previously described roles for the wnt signaling pathway in endomesoderm specification during gastrulation and overall animal-vegetal patterning at earlier stages of anthozoan development.

Dataset Information

Hox and Wnt pattern the primary body axis of an anthozoan cnidarian before gastrulation.

Publications

Hox and Wnt pattern the primary body axis of an anthozoan cnidarian before gastrulation.

Similar Datasets

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