XB-FEAT-22041727

dact4

This is the community wiki page for the gene dact4 please feel free to add any information that is relevant to this gene that is not already captured elsewhere in Xenbase

nomenclature changes

name changed from XB22041727 to dact4 following description of this new gene and its phylogentic relationships in the 'dapper' family of genes by Gabriele Colozza and Eddy De Robertis, see Dact-4 is a Xenopus laevis Spemann organizer gene related to the Dapper/Frodo antagonist of β-catenin family of proteins, Gene Expression Patterns, 2020. [1]

summary from Colozza and De Robertis 2020 for human DACT family genes

Dact/Dapper/Frodo members belong to an evolutionarily conserved family of Dishevelled-binding proteins present in mammals, birds, amphibians and fishes that are involved in the regulation of Wnt and TGF-β signaling. In addition to the three established genes (Dact1-3) that compose the Dact family, a fourth paralogue group of related proteins has been recently identified and named Dact-4. Interestingly, Dact-4 [dact4] is the most rapidly evolving gene of the entire family, as it displays very low homology with other Dact proteins and has lost key conserved domains. Dact-4 is not present in mammals, but weakly conserved homologs were found in reptiles and fishes.

From NCBI summary for DACT1: Depletion of dact1 mRNA from Xenopus embryos resulted in loss of notochord and head structures, and mice lacking the DACT1 gene died shortly after birth from severe posterior malformations.

Note that Xenopus dact4 does not have any mammalian orthologs.