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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 29.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Cycle. 2010 Jan 7;9(1):10–11. doi: 10.4161/cc.9.1.10272

Figure 1.

Figure 1

(A) A model highlighting the requirements for Wnt2/2b signaling in development of the mouse anterior foregut endoderm. Wnt2/2b ligands are expressed in the ventral mesoderm surrounding the anterior foregut and signal in a paracrine fashion to the adjacent endoderm to specify lung progenitors. Fgf10, a potent and necessary inducer of lung bud formation is regulated in an autocrine manner in the ventral mesoderm by Wnt2/2b signaling. In Wnt2/2b double mutant embryos Fgf10 expression is significantly downregulated. (B) Several markers including p63, Sox2, Foxp2 and Nkx2.1 demonstrate successful esophageal and tracheal endoderm septation and specification. Notably, in Wnt2/2b double mutant embryos, tracheoesophageal septation is disrupted and the resulting foregut endoderm tube expresses only the esophageal markers, p63 and Sox2, indicating loss of tracheal identity. (C) Later in lung development, Wnt2 promotes lung growth in part through its regulation of Fgf10 expression.