Reengineering the primary body axis by ectopic cWnt signaling

The evolution of gastrulation, the embryonic formation of distinct tissue layers, was a pivotal event in the metazoan radiation, as it paved the way for diversification of animal body plans from a hollow, ciliated, radially symmetrical ancestor [1]. The position of the site of gastrulation (that segregates internal endomesodermal precursors from outer ectodermal tissue) has played a role in our understanding of patterns of body plan evolution and is tightly regulated during development. In bilaterians (a large clade of bilaterally symmetrical animals that represent over 99% of all extant species), the site of gastrulation is determined by a localized molecular asymmetry resulting from a differential distribution of maternal determinants [2] along the so-called animal-vegetal axis (A-V axis) where the animal pole is marked by the site of polar body release during meiosis [1,3]. In most bilaterians, the site of gastrulation occurs at the vegetal pole (the side opposite the animal pole); however, in cnidarians (corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish) [3], the sister group to all bilaterians and ctenophores (comb jellies), likely to be the earliest branching group of extant metazoans [3], gastrulation occurs at the animal pole [3,4]. Here we show that components of the canonical Wnt-β-catenin (cWnt) signaling pathway mediate endomesoderm formation and patterns the adult primary body axis.