The Wnt genes belong to a family of protooncogenes with at least 13 known members that are expressed in species ranging from Drosophila to man. The name Wnt
denotes the relationship of this family to the Drosophila segment polarity gene 'wingless' and to its vertebrate ortholog, Int1, a mouse protooncogene (see OMIM 164820).
Transcription of Wnt family genes appears to be developmentally regulated in a precise temporal and spatial manner. The Wnt family is considered to be 1 of the 3
major families of signaling molecules in the mouse, the others being the fibroblast growth factor-related family (see OMIM 164980) and the transforming growth
factor-beta-related family (TGFB; OMIM 190180). All of the known vertebrate Wnt genes encode 38- to 43-kD cysteine-rich putative glycoproteins, which have features
typical of secreted growth factors: a hydrophobic signal sequence, a conserved asparagine-linked oligosaccharide consensus sequence, and 22 conserved cysteine
residues whose relative spacing is maintained.
General function
Ligand, Growth factor
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Cellular localization
Secreted
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Ovarian function
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Expression regulated by
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Ovarian localization
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Saitoh T et al 2001 reported the molecular cloning and characterization of human WNT5B on chromosome 12p13.3
region.
WNT signaling pathway plays a key role in carcinogenesis and embryogenesis. Overlapping WNT5B cDNAs, containing 1080-bp ORF, were isolated. WNT5B encoded
a 359-amino-acid polypeptide with the N-terminal signal peptide, four N-linked glycosylation sites, and consensus
amino-acid residues conserved among the WNT family. WNT5B showed 80.5% total-amino-acid identity with
WNT5A. Comparison between nucleotide sequence of WNT5B cDNA and human genome draft sequences
revealed that the WNT5B gene, consisting of 4 exons, was located on human chromosome 12p13.3 region.
Northern blot analyses with W5B2 probe detected the 2.8- and 2.4-kb WNT5B mRNAs. WNT5B was
moderately expressed in adult prostate and fetal brain, and weakly expressed in fetal lung, kidney, adult liver,
ovary, and small intestine.