The Wnts

Table 2 Developmental functions of mouse Wnt genes

Gene	Natural allele	Phenotype of knockout or other functions	References
Wnt1	swaying	Loss of a portion of the midbrain and cerebellum	[74,75,129,130]
		Deficiency in dorsal neural-tube derivatives, including neural-crest cells in double knockout with Wnt3a	[131]
Wnt2		Placental defects	[132]
Wnt3		Defects in axis formation and gastrulation	[84]
		Defects in hair growth and structure	[133,134]
Wnt3a	vestigial tail	Defects in somite and tailbud development	[102,135-137]
		Deficiency in dorsal neural-tube derivatives, including neural crest cells in double knockout with Wnt1	[131]
		Loss of hippocampus	[138]
Wnt4		Defects in kidney development	[76]
		Defects in female development; absence of Müllerian duct, ectopic synthesis of testosterone in females	[77]
		Defects in mammary gland morphogenesis	[78]
Wnt5a		Truncated limbs, shortened anterior-posterior axis, reduced number of proliferating cells	[139]
Wnt7a	postaxial hemimelia	Defects in limb polarity	[79]
		Female infertility due to failure of Müllerian duct regression	[80,140]
		Defects in uterine patterning	[141]
		Defects in synapse maturation in the cerebellum	[81]
Wnt7b		Placental defects	[142]
Wnt10b		Inhibition of adipogenesis	[143]

ISSN: 1474-760X