Date of Award
2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Biology
Supervisor
Dr. Gregory M. Kelly
Abstract
Mouse F9 teratocarcinoma cells in culture differentiate into primitive endoderm when treated with retinoic acid and into parietal endoderm with subsequent treatment with dibutyryl cAMP. This in vitro model has been studied extensively as these chemically induced events mimic one of the earliest epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions in mouse embryogenesis. During differentiation to primitive endoderm Wnt6 expression is up- regulated by RA, and the result is the activation ofthe canonical Wnt/p-catenin signaling pathway. Thefactor(s)responsiblefortheactivationoftheWnt6geneisnotknown,but in silico analysis reveals that its promoter region contains a putative binding site for the transcription factor GATA6. In this study, the expression of Gata6 following retinoic acid treatment was examined and found to be up-regulated during primitive and parietal endoderm differentiation. Overexpression of Gata6 alone induced biochemical, molecular, and morphological markers of primitive endoderm and was sufficient in up-
regulatingtheexpressionofWnt6. Furthermore,thisup-regulationwasaccompaniedby the activation of the canonical Wnt/p-catenin signaling pathway, as evident by the increase in phospho-GSK3$ levels. Gata6 expressing cells were also capable of completing the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and differentiating into parietal endoderm when treated with dibutyryl cAMP. Together, these results show that Gata6 overexpression is sufficient to up-regulate the expression of Wnt6, a signaling molecule previously reported by our lab to activate the canonical Wnt/p-catenin pathway, and provides new insight to the signaling mechanisms involved in the specification of primitive endoderm.
Recommended Citation
Hwang, Jason T.K., "Gata6 Induces Wnt6 Expression During Primitive Endoderm Differentiation" (2009). Digitized Theses. 4169.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4169