CNBP: a new member ofthe Wnt ancient pathway?

MARGARIT, E.; GARCÍA SIBURU, N.; ARMAS, P.; CALCATERRA, N. B.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XLIX Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Biochemestry and Molecular Biology Research.; 2013

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular.

CNBP is a nucleic acid chaperone highly conserved among vertebrates required for proper craniofacial development. The CNBP molecular targets identity is still limited. By using the MEME/MAST software, we searched for genes from human, mouse, chicken, amphibian and fish containing the recently determined DNA-binding site consensus in their promoters. Bioinformatic analyses retrieved 16 putative targets conserved among the five species, mainly comprising transcription factors, membrane receptors and signaling proteins. Gene ontology analysis retrieved terms related to development and general metabolism. Noteworthy, three of the identified genes (ptk7, tcf7l2, cdk14) are involved in the canonical Wnt pathway. CNBP binding to the promoters of these genes was validated by ChIP on DNA samples of 24-hpf zebrafish embryos. The role of CNBP on the expression of the target genes was assessed by knocking-down or overexpressing CNBP in 24-hpf zebrafish embryos. Data from RT-qPCR and whole mount in situ hybridization showed that CNBP enhances the expression of all the tested genes. A recent report shows that CNBP negatively controls the expression of wnt5b, a member of the non-canonical Ca2+-Wnt pathway. Collectively, our data suggest a role of CNBP in balancing the canonical and non-canonical Wnt pathway during embryonic development.