Wnt-6 is expressed in the ureter bud and induces kidney tubule development in vitro.

The embryonic kidney is a classic developmental model system for studying inductive tissue interactions that govern organogenesis. We report here that Wnt-6 is expressed in the ureter bud, and that cell lines expressing Wnt-6 induce nephrogenesis in vitro. Wnt-6 cells induce tubules with similar kinetics to spinal cord (SPC) and lead to induced expression of Pax2, Pax8, Sfrp2, and E-cadherin genes, early markers of tubulogenesis. Moreover, Wnt-6 signaling rescues tubulogenesis in mesenchyme separated from Wnt-4 mutant embryos and leads to activation of Wnt-4 transcription. Wnt-6 also induces a secondary axis in early Xenopus embryos. We conclude that Wnt-6 is a candidate for the ureter epithelium-derived signal that leads to activation of kidney tubulogenesis via Wnt-4. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.