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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/147723
A C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin acts as a novel regulator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in planarians
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β-Catenin, the core element of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, is a multifunctional and evolutionarily conserved protein which performs essential roles in a variety of developmental and homeostatic processes. Despite its crucial roles, the mechanisms that control its context-specific functions in time and space remain largely unknown. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been extensively studied in planarians, flatworms with the ability to regenerate and remodel the whole body, providing a 'whole animal' developmental framework to approach this question. Here we identify a C-terminally truncated β-catenin (β-catenin4), generated by gene duplication, that is required for planarian photoreceptor cell specification. Our results indicate that the role of β-catenin4 is to modulate the activity of β-catenin1, the planarian β-catenin involved in Wnt signal transduction in the nucleus, mediated by the transcription factor TCF-2. This inhibitory form of β-catenin, expressed in specific cell types, would provide a novel mechanism to modulate nuclear β-catenin signaling levels. Genomic searches and in vitro analysis suggest that the existence of a C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin could be an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to achieve a fine-tuned regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in specific cellular contexts.
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SU, Hanxia, et al. A C-terminally truncated form of β-catenin acts as a novel regulator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in planarians. PLoS Genetics. 2017. Vol. 13, num. 10, pags. e1007030. ISSN 1553-7390. [consulted: 13 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/147723