User:Depalmal/sandbox

β-catenin contributes to early vital events in embryonic formation by determining the dorsal-ventral axis of the developing organism. The induction of this activity is mediated by the wnt pathway and is established during early to mid epiboly. The cells of the future dorsal regions of the embryo express significantly higher levels of β-catenin in both the cytoplasm and the nuclei. Cells with increased wnt signaling degrade β-catenin to a lesser degree and cause increased accumulation in the nucleus. Within the nucleus,β-catenin binds to TCF and enables it to activate transcription of selected genes. The transcriptional regulation activities of β-catenin exist in a separate protein domain from its functions in cell adhesion. The overexpression of wnt and other signaling pathways can cause anchorage-independent growth in mature organisms, leading to cancers. Depalmal (talk) 00:52, 23 March 2013 (UTC)