Project Details
Projekt
Structure-function relationships and evolution of wnt signaling molecules
Applicant
Professor Dr. Suat Özbek
Subject Area
Developmental Biology
Term
from 2009 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 58160712
Wnt ligands comprise a large family of secreted, hydrophobic glycoproteins that control a variety of developmental and adult processes in all metazoan organisms. Although Wnt signaling processes are increasingly understood at the cellular level, our knowledge of the molecular structures of Wnt ligands, receptors and antagonists is very limited. Information about structure-function relationships in Wnt signaling molecules is supposed to be critical for a detailed understanding of ligand/receptor interactions and for the design of novel agonistic or antagonistic ligands. Cnidarians have proven attractive model organisms for the research on Wnt signaling due to their simple body plan, easy manipulation and evolutionary impact. In addition, a complete set of Wnt signaling molecules has been isolated from a cnidarian species. For our structure-function analysis we have therefore chosen both, canonical and non-canonical Wnt proteins as well as dickkopf (dkk) molecules from Hydra and vertebrates (mouse) in an effort to retrace the molecular evolution of these proteins.
DFG Programme
Research Units
