FEBS Letters
Volume 581, Issue 27 , Pages 5247-5254, 13 November 2007

β-Catenin signaling contributes to stemness and regulates early differentiation in murine embryonic stem cells

Edited by Lukas Huber

  • Roman Anton

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ulm University, D-89069 Ulm, Germany
    • ,
  • Hans A. Kestler

      Affiliations

    • University Hospital, Internal Medicine I, Ulm University, Robert-Koch-Straße 8, D-89081 Ulm, Germany
    • Institute for Neural Information Processing, Ulm University, 89069 Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany
    • ,
  • Michael Kühl

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ulm University, D-89069 Ulm, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Fax: +49 731 500 23277.

Received 1 August 2007; received in revised form 19 September 2007; accepted 5 October 2007. published online 15 October 2007.

Abstract 

ES cells can self-renew while preserving pluripotency and are able to differentiate into many cell types. In both processes, different signal transduction pathways are implicated, including the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which we here further analyzed. We found that a loss of β-catenin in ES cells leads to altered expression of stem cell marker genes. TCF/β-catenin reporter gene assays indicate that undifferentiated murine ES cells are capable of reacting to LiCl and Wnt3a but not Wnt5a stimulation, but have low endogenous TCF/β-catenin activity. Oct-3/4, nanog and Wnt11 were able to repress TCF/β-catenin transcriptional activity. During differentiation, activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway influences formation of mesoderm and cardiomyocytes in a time and dose dependent manner.

Keywords: ES cells, Wnt signaling, Stemness, β-Catenin

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PII: S0014-5793(07)01069-1

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2007.10.012

FEBS Letters
Volume 581, Issue 27 , Pages 5247-5254, 13 November 2007

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