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PTK7 proteolytic fragment proteins function during early Xenopus development

Hava Lichtig1, Yasmin Cohen1, Naama Bin-Nun1

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 31096, Israel.

Developmental Biology
|May 25, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Smaller fragments of Protein Tyrosine Kinase 7 (PTK7) effectively regulate Wnt signaling and LRP6 protein levels. These findings demonstrate that PTK7 fragments can mimic full-length PTK7 activity in vertebrate development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Biology

Background:

  • Protein Tyrosine Kinase 7 (PTK7) is crucial for embryonic development and cancer.
  • PTK7 regulates both canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways.
  • PTK7 activity is linked to nervous system development and human cancer formation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the biological activity of carboxyl-terminal PTK7 proteolytic fragments (cPTK7 622-1070 and cPTK7 726-1070).
  • To determine if these fragments can recapitulate the functions of full-length PTK7 during early Xenopus nervous system development.

Main Methods:

  • Studied the effects of specific PTK7 fragments (cPTK7 622-1070, cPTK7 726-1070) in Xenopus laevis embryos.
  • Assessed the impact of these fragments on canonical Wnt signaling and LRP6 protein levels.
  • Compared the activity of PTK7 fragments to full-length PTK7 protein.

Main Results:

  • The examined PTK7 proteolytic fragments (cPTK7 622-1070 and cPTK7 726-1070) demonstrated significant biological activity.
  • These fragments promoted canonical Wnt signaling by regulating LRP6 protein levels, similar to full-length PTK7.
  • In vivo evidence confirmed that smaller PTK7 fragments can replicate full-length PTK7 activity in vertebrate development.

Conclusions:

  • Carboxyl-terminal PTK7 fragments retain the ability to modulate Wnt signaling and LRP6 levels.
  • These findings highlight the functional relevance of PTK7 fragments in vertebrate nervous system development.
  • PTK7 fragments may serve as functional mimics of the full-length protein in developmental contexts.
Keywords:
Canonical Wnt signalingLRP6 proteinNon-canonical Wnt signalingPTK7 proteinXenopus

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