Figure 5. Wnt signaling instructs Vangl2 polarization in the neural plate.
(A) Experimental scheme. Histone-GFP RNA (100 pg, nuclear lineage tracer, green) alone or with Wnt5a-Myc DNA (100 pg) was targeted to the border of the neural plate (pink), followed by immunostaining of Vangl2. (B) The neural plate of a stage 15 embryo with a clone of Histone-GFP-expressing cells (asterisk). Dotted line depicts the midline, and the antero-posterior (A–P) and medial-lateral (M–L) axes are indicated. (C–D') Neural plates of embryos injected with Histone-GFP RNA alone (C–C') or with Wnt5a-Myc DNA (D–D') were immunostained for GFP and Vangl2. Vangl2 polarization is evident at the anterior cell borders (arrowheads). In cells adjacent to the Wnt5a-Myc clone, Vangl2 is oriented away from the clone (arrows). Images are representative of three independent experiments. (E–F) Wnt11b is required for Vangl2 polarization. Each vegetal blastomere of eight-cell embryos was injected with 20 ng of either control MO (CoMO) (E) or Wnt11b MO (F). Neural plate explants at stage 15 were stained to visualize Vangl2. Scale bar, 20 µm. Images are representative of three independent experiments.