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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

The Power of Simplicity: Sea Urchin Embryos as in Vivo Developmental Models for Studying Complex Cell-to-cell Signaling Network Interactions
Published on: February 16, 2017
Diversification of the expression patterns and developmental functions of the dishevelled gene family during chordate
Ryan S Gray1, Roy D Bayly, Stephen A Green
1Section of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
Abstract:
Dishevelled (Dvl) proteins are key transducers of Wnt signaling encoded by members of a multi-gene family in vertebrates. We report here the divergent, tissue-specific expression patterns for all three Dvl genes in Xenopus embryos, which contrast dramatically with their expression patterns in mice. Moreover, we find that the expression patterns of Dvl genes in the chick diverge significantly from those of Xenopus. In addition, in hemichordates, an outgroup to chordates, we find that the one Dvl gene is dynamically expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Using knockdowns, we find that Dvl1 and Dvl2 are required for early neural crest specification and for somite segmentation in Xenopus. Most strikingly, we report a novel role for Dvl3 in the maintenance of gene expression in muscle and in the development of the Xenopus sclerotome. These data demonstrate that the expression patterns and developmental functions of specific Dvl genes have diverged significantly during chordate evolution.
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