Sequential actions of β-catenin and Bmp pattern the oral nerve net in Nematostella vectensis

Hiroshi Watanabe (), Anne Kuhn, Manami Fushiki, Kiyokazu Agata, Suat Özbek, Toshitaka Fujisawa and Thomas W. Holstein ()
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Hiroshi Watanabe: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University
Anne Kuhn: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University
Manami Fushiki: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University
Kiyokazu Agata: Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
Suat Özbek: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University
Toshitaka Fujisawa: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University
Thomas W. Holstein: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Animal evolution is closely linked to the emergence of the nervous system. At present it is unknown how the basic mechanisms of neural induction and formation of central nervous systems evolved. We addressed this question in Nematostella vectensis, a member of cnidarians, the ancient sister group of bilaterians. We found that β-catenin signalling is crucial for the early induction of the embryonic nervous system. β-Catenin activity at the blastopore induces specific neurogenic genes required for development of the oral nervous system. β-Catenin signalling induces also Bmp signalling, which, at later larval stages, becomes indispensible for the maintenance and asymmetric patterning of the oral nervous system along the primary and secondary (directive) axes. We hypothesize that the consecutive and functionally linked involvement of β-catenin and Bmp signalling in the formation of the cnidarian oral nervous system reflects an ancestral mechanism that evolved before the cnidarian/bilaterian split.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6536

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