bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/265785; this version posted February 14, 2018. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. An evolutionary-conserved Wnt3/β-catenin/Sp5 feedback loop restricts head organizer activity in Hydra Matthias C. Vogg1, Leonardo Beccari1, Laura Iglesias Ollé1, Christine Rampon2,3,4, Sophie Vriz2,3,4, Chrystelle Perruchoud1, Yvan Wenger1, and Brigitte Galliot1* 1 Department of Genetics and Evolution, Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (iGE3), Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, 30 Quai Ernest Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. 2 Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Biologie (CIRB), CNRS UMR 7241/INSERM U1050/Collège de France, 11, Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. 3Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Biology Department, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France. 4PSL Research University, 75005 Paris, France. * corresponding author:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The Hydra polyp regenerates its head by transforming the gastric tissue below the wound into a head organizer made of two antagonistic cross-reacting components. The activator, previously characterized as Wnt3, drives apical differentiation by acting locally and auto-catalytically. The uncharacterized inhibitor, produced under the control of the activator, prevents ectopic head formation. By crossing RNA-seq data obtained in a β-catenin(RNAi) screen performed in planarians and a quantitative analysis of positional and temporal gene expression in Hydra, we identified Sp5 as a transcription factor that fulfills the head inhibitor properties: a Wnt/β-catenin inducible expression, a graded apical-to-basal expression, a sustained up-regulation during head regeneration, a multi-headed phenotype when knocked-down, a repressing activity on Wnt3 expression.