Generating Cellular Diversity and Spatial Form: Wnt Signaling and the Evolution of Multicellular Animals

Dev Cell. 2016 Sep 26;38(6):643-55. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2016.08.011.

Abstract

There were multiple prerequisites to the evolution of multicellular animal life, including the generation of multiple cell fates ("cellular diversity") and their patterned spatial arrangement ("spatial form"). Wnt proteins operate as primordial symmetry-breaking signals. By virtue of their short-range nature and their capacity to activate both lineage-specifying and cell-polarizing intracellular signaling cascades, Wnts can polarize cells at their site of contact, orienting the axis of cell division while simultaneously programming daughter cells to adopt diverging fates in a spatially stereotyped way. By coupling cell fate to position, symmetry-breaking Wnt signals were pivotal in constructing the metazoan body by generating cellular diversity and spatial form.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biological Evolution*
  • Cell Division / genetics
  • Cell Lineage / genetics*
  • Cell Polarity / genetics
  • Embryonic Development / genetics
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / genetics
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Wnt Proteins / genetics*

Substances

  • Wnt Proteins