Probing Wnt Receptor Turnover: A Critical Regulatory Point of Wnt Pathway

Wnt pathways are critical for embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis in all multicellular animals. Many regulatory mechanisms exist to control proper signaling output. Recent studies suggest that cell surface Wnt receptor level is controlled by ubiquitination, and serve as a critical regulatory point of Wnt pathway activity as it determines the responsiveness of cells to Wnt signal. Here, we describe flow cytometry, cell surface protein biotinylation, and immunofluorescence pulse-chase methods to probe the surface expression, ubiquitination, and internalization of the Wnt receptors FZD and LRP6.