SRC-1 and Wnt signaling act together to specify endoderm and to control cleavage orientation in early C. elegans embryos
Bei, Yanxia ; Hogan, Jennifer ; Berkowitz, Laura A. ; Soto, Martha C. ; Rocheleau, Christian Ernest ; Pang, Ka Ming ; Collins, John J. ; Mello, Craig C.
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Abstract
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.
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Dev Cell. 2002 Jul;3(1):113-25.