Brachyury is a target gene of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

Abstract

To identify target genes of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in early mouse embryonic development we have established a co-culture system consisting of NIH3T3 fibroblasts expressing different Wnts as feeder layer cells and embryonic stem (ES) cells expressing a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene transcriptionally regulated by the TCF/β-catenin complex. ES cells specifically respond to Wnt signal as monitored by GFP expression. In GFP-positive ES cells we observe expression of Brachyury. Two TCF binding sites located in a 500 bp Brachyury promoter fragment bind the LEF-1/β-catenin complex and respond specifically to β-catenin-dependent transactivation. From these results we conclude that Brachyury is a target gene for Wnt/β-catenin signaling.