Wnt7a
Wnt7a (Wnt family member 7A, Wnt-7a) is a secreted signalling protein of the Wnt family. It acts as a ligand for frizzled receptors in the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathway and has roles in embryonic patterning, neural development and reproductive tract function. Browse Assay Genie's current range of Wnt7a research reagents below, or read on for the biology behind the target.
Wnt7a is a ligand for members of the frizzled family of seven-transmembrane receptors and functions in the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signalling pathway. It is a secreted protein, found in the extracellular space and extracellular matrix. Through its interaction with FZD5, Wnt7a promotes the formation of synapses.
During embryonic development, Wnt7a contributes to dorsal versus ventral patterning of the limb, skeleton development and urogenital tract development. It is required for central nervous system (CNS) angiogenesis and for regulation of the blood-brain barrier. In the nervous system it is needed for normal neural stem cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus, for progression through the cell cycle in neural progenitor cells, for neural stem cell self-renewal, and for normal neuronal differentiation and maturation.
The WNT7A gene belongs to the WNT gene family, a group of structurally related genes encoding secreted signalling proteins implicated in oncogenesis and in developmental processes such as cell fate regulation and patterning during embryogenesis. Wnt7a is required for sexually dimorphic development of the Mullerian ducts and for normal fertility in both sexes. It is involved in development of the anterior-posterior axis of the female reproductive tract, in uterine smooth muscle patterning and in maintenance of adult uterine function. Mutations in the gene are associated with Fuhrmann and Al-Awadi/Raas-Rothschild/Schinzel phocomelia syndromes. The previous HGNC name is wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 7A, and a mouse ortholog, Wnt7a, is recorded.
Wnt7a is a frizzled ligand acting in the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, making it a useful subject for studying Wnt signal transduction.
Wnt7a is required for neural stem cell self-renewal, hippocampal dentate gyrus proliferation, and neuronal differentiation and maturation.
Wnt7a promotes synapse formation via FZD5 and is required for CNS angiogenesis and blood-brain barrier regulation.
Wnt7a supports limb patterning, Mullerian duct development, uterine function and fertility, and is linked to phocomelia syndromes.
Wnt7a is a secreted ligand for frizzled receptors that signals through the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. It supports limb, skeleton and urogenital development, CNS angiogenesis, blood-brain barrier regulation, neural stem cell function and synapse formation through FZD5.
The gene symbol is WNT7A, the protein is also written Wnt-7a, and UniProt names it Protein Wnt-7a. The previous HGNC name was wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 7A. It belongs to the Wnt family of secreted signalling proteins.
Mutations in WNT7A are associated with Fuhrmann and Al-Awadi/Raas-Rothschild/Schinzel phocomelia syndromes. A mouse ortholog, Wnt7a, exists; check the datasheet of any product for its validated reactivity.
Other Wnt family ligands involved in developmental signalling and Wnt/beta-catenin pathway research.
Gene and protein annotations from HGNC, NCBI Gene and UniProt O00755; product specifications from Assay Genie datasheets.