Cell
Volume 151, Issue 7, 21 December 2012, Pages 1443-1456
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Article
Role of TAZ as Mediator of Wnt Signaling

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Summary

Wnt growth factors are fundamental regulators of cell fate, but how the Wnt signal is translated into biological responses is incompletely understood. Here, we report that TAZ, a biologically potent transcriptional coactivator, serves as a downstream element of the Wnt/β-catenin cascade. This function of TAZ is independent from its well-established role as mediator of Hippo signaling. In the absence of Wnt activity, the components of the β-catenin destruction complex—APC, Axin, and GSK3—are also required to keep TAZ at low levels. TAZ degradation depends on phosphorylated β-catenin that bridges TAZ to its ubiquitin ligase β-TrCP. Upon Wnt signaling, escape of β-catenin from the destruction complex impairs TAZ degradation and leads to concomitant accumulation of β-catenin and TAZ. At the genome-wide level, a substantial portion of Wnt transcriptional responses is mediated by TAZ. TAZ activation is a general feature of Wnt signaling and is functionally relevant to mediate Wnt biological effects.

Highlights

► Wnt signals through TAZ, in parallel to β-catenin ► TAZ is a component of the Wnt signaling cascade and mediates Wnt biological response ► In the absence of Wnt, β-catenin mediates TAZ degradation ► Wnt regulation of TAZ stability is independent of the Hippo pathway

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These authors contributed equally to this work