Wnt11/5a complex formation caused by tyrosine sulfation increases canonical signaling activity

Probing the physical nature and composition of signalsomes

Background

Recent advances in our understanding of cell signaling have revealed assemblies of signaling components often viewed in fluorescence microscopy as very large, irregular "punctae". These punctae are often dynamic in nature, appearing to act as mobile scaffolds that function in integrating protein-protein interactions from large arrays of signaling components. The visualization of these punctae, termed "signalsomes" when applied to protein assemblies involved in cell signaling provokes the question, what is the physical nature of these structures made visible in live cells through the expression of fluorescently-tagged fusion molecules?

Results

Steric-exclusion chromatography on wide-bore matrices, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and advanced proteomics permits the analysis of several important physical properties of signalsomes. Wnt canonical signaling is essential to normal cell development and dysregulation can lead to cancers in humans. Punctae/signalsomes have been reported based upon the study of fluorescently-tagged mammalian Dishevelleds. Dishevelleds are phosphoprotein scaffolds that demonstrate dynamic character and mobility in cells stimulated with Wnt3a. Recent studies have successfully isolated Dvl3-based signalsomes from mouse totipotent embryonic teratocarcinoma F9 cells in culture and sized by application of steric exclusion chromatography (SEC), displaying large discrete M_r (0.5 and 2 MDa). Activation of the Wnt canonical β-catenin/LEF-Tcf-sensitive transcriptional response leads to an upfield shift of >5 MDa of the Dvl3-based signalsome. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (fcs) is a single molecule analysis performed in live cells that experimentally measures the diffusion coefficient and permits calculation of MW of the signalsome (0.2 and 30 MDa species in vivo), which also reveal an upfield shift in MW in response to Wnt3a. Proteomics provides for molecular dissection of the composition of the signalsome isolated from untreated and Wnt3a-treated cells.

Conclusion

Dvl3-based punctae/signalsomes made visible by fluorescent microscopy now can be interrogated by advanced physical means, defining such properties as signalsome M_r/MW, molecular composition, and intracellular locale.

An updated overview on Wnt signaling pathways: a prelude for more

Growth factor signaling is required for cellular differentiation, tissue morphogenesis, and tissue homeostasis. Misregulation of intracellular signal transduction can lead to developmental defects during embryogenesis or particular diseases in the adult. One family of growth factors important for these aspects is given by the Wnt proteins. In particular, Wnts have important functions in stem cell biology, cardiac development and differentiation, angiogenesis, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac failure, and aging. Knowledge of growth factor signaling during differentiation will allow for improvement of targeted differentiation of embryonic or adult stem cells toward functional cardiomyocytes or for understanding the basis of diseases. Our major aim here is to provide a state of the art review summarizing our present knowledge of the intracellular Wnt-mediated signaling network. In particular, we provide evidence that the subdivision into canonical and noncanonical Wnt signaling pathways solely based on the identity of Wnt ligands or Frizzled receptors is not appropriate anymore. We thereby deliver a solid base for further upcoming articles of a review series focusing on the role of Wnt proteins on different aspects of cardiovascular development and dysfunction.

Using oocytes for Wnt signaling assays: paracrine assays and Wnt-conditioned medium

Xenopus oocytes have been widely used as a simple protein expression system particularly for the characterization of ion channels and membrane receptors. However, less attention has been given to their use as a means of synthesizing and analyzing secreted signaling molecules. In this review, we describe two assays that address this use of Xenopus oocytes. In the first, the paracrine assay, the oocytes secrete the signal and juxtaposed animal cap explants receive it. This provides an easy and efficient way to manipulate the signaling source since different doses of mRNA for the secreted ligand can be injected into the oocyte. Also the signaling response in the receiving cells can be read in several ways: in vivo by monitoring the localization of GFP-tagged signaling mediators, after fixation by immunostaining, or by monitoring changes in the transcriptional readout by RT-PCR. In a second approach, the oocyte is used to secrete a ligand, here the Wnt family members Wnt5a and 11, into the surrounding medium. This conditioned medium is then used to treat other cell lines to monitor their physiological changes in response to various combinations of Wnt proteins. Only a few recombinant Wnt proteins are commercially available and these are predominantly of mouse origin. Since Xenopus oocytes translate foreign RNA efficiently, this method provides an alternative source of Wnt protein derived from other model species.