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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Fertilization of Xenopus oocytes using the Host Transfer Method
Published on: November 2, 2010
Xwnt-2 (Xwnt-2b) is maternally expressed in Xenopus oocytes and embryos
Yosef Landesman1, Daniel A Goodenough, David L Paul
1Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. yosef.landesman@gpc-biotech.com
Abstract:
Xwnt-2 (formerly Xwnt-2b) is a member of the Xwnt-8 class of axis-inducing Wnts. Its zygotic expression is at the prosencephalic-mesencephalic border of the early tadpole brain and above the heart primordium [Mech. Dev. 63 (1997) 199]. Here, we report that Xwnt-2 has an earlier, maternal pattern of expression. It is detected in the oocyte, egg and the developing embryo. Studies of the spatial localization of maternal Xwnt-2 show transcripts in both vegetal and animal blastomeres with enrichment in the animal hemisphere. The identification of maternal Xwnt-2 raises questions about possible roles of dorsalizing Xwnts in axial patterning of the Xenopus embryo.
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