Many of the molecular mechanisms that underlie axis formation and axial patterning are conserved among bilaterians, but how early in metazoan evolution did these mechanisms appear? On p. 2907, Broun and colleagues report that canonical Wnt pathway involvement in the initiation of axis formation goes back to hydra, which arose very early in metazoan evolution. β-Catenin stabilization through glycogen synthase-3β(GSK-3β) inhibition, a crucial step in canonical Wnt signalling, is involved in organizer formation in bilaterians. In hydra, the head organizer is continuously active throughout life, and the researchers show that treatment with alsterpaullone, a specific GSK-3β inhibitor, causes the hydra's body column to acquire all the characteristics of the head organizer,including the ability to form ectopic axial structures. This response mirrors the effects on patterning of disrupting Wnt signalling in bilaterians and identifies the canonical Wnt pathway as an evolutionary ancient component of axis formation.
An ancient organizer of axis formation
An ancient organizer of axis formation. Development 15 June 2005; 132 (12): e1205. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.