Chibby, a nuclear beta-catenin-associated antagonist of the Wnt/Wingless pathway.
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Takemaru K, Yamaguchi S, Lee YS, Zhang Y, Carthew RW, Moon RT
Chibby, a nuclear beta-catenin-associated antagonist of the Wnt/Wingless pathway.
Nature. 2003 Apr 24;422(6934):905-9.
- PubMed ID
- 12712206 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
Inappropriate activation of downstream target genes by the oncoprotein beta-catenin is implicated in development of numerous human cancers. beta-catenin and its fruitfly counterpart Armadillo act as a coactivator in the canonical Wnt/Wingless pathway by binding to Tcf/Lef transcription factors. Here we report a conserved nuclear protein, named Chibby, which was identified in a screen for proteins that directly interact with the C-terminal region of beta-catenin. In mammalian cultured cells we demonstrate that Chibby inhibits beta-catenin-mediated transcriptional activation by competing with Lef-1 to bind to beta-catenin. Inhibition of Drosophila Chibby by RNA interference results in segment polarity defects that mimick a wingless gain-of-function phenotype, and overexpression of the wingless target genes engrailed and Ultrabithorax. In addition, epistasis experiments indicate that chibby acts downstream of wingless and upstream of armadillo.