The Zebrafish Glypican Knypek Controls Cell Polarity during Gastrulation Movements of Convergent Extension

Jacek Topczewski, Diane S. Sepich, Dina C. Myers, Charline Walker, Angel Amores, Zsolt Lele, Matthias Hammerschmidt, John Postlethwait, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

381 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mutations in the zebrafish knypek locus impair gastrulation movements of convergent extension that narrow embryonic body and elongate it from head to tail. We demonstrate that knypek regulates cellular movements but not cell fate specification. Convergent extension movement defects in knypek are associated with abnormal cell polarity, as mutant cells fail to elongate and align medio-laterally. Positional cloning reveals that knypek encodes a member of the glypican family of heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Double mutant and overexpression analyses show that Knypek potentiates Wnt11 signaling, mediating convergent extension. These studies provide experimental and genetic evidence that glypican Knypek acts during vertebrate gastrulation as a positive modulator of non-canonical Wnt signaling to establish polarized cell behaviors underlying convergent extension movements.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)251-264
Number of pages14
JournalDevelopmental cell
Volume1
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2001

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