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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Using Confocal Analysis of Xenopus laevis to Investigate Modulators of Wnt and Shh Morphogen Gradients
Published on: December 14, 2015
A morphogen gradient of Wnt/beta-catenin signalling regulates anteroposterior neural patterning in Xenopus
1Division of Molecular Embryology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract:
Anteroposterior (AP) patterning of the vertebrate neural plate is initiated during gastrulation and is regulated by Spemann's organizer and its derivatives. The prevailing model for AP patterning predicts a caudally increasing gradient of a 'transformer' which posteriorizes anteriorly specified neural cells. However, the molecular identity of the transforming gradient has remained elusive. We show that in Xenopus embryos (1) dose-dependent Wnt signalling is both necessary and sufficient for AP patterning of the neuraxis, (2) Wnt/beta-catenin signalling occurs in a direct and long-range fashion within the ectoderm, and (3) that there is an endogenous AP gradient of Wnt/beta-catenin signalling in the presumptive neural plate of the Xenopus gastrula. Our results indicate that an activity gradient of Wnt/beta-catenin signalling acts as transforming morphogen to pattern the Xenopus central nervous system.
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