Eaf1 and Eaf2 mediate zebrafish dorsal-ventral axis patterning suppressing Wnt/β-Catenin activity.

During early vertebrate embryogenesis, maternal Wnt/β-catenin signaling is thought to locally initiate expression of dorsal-specific genes. Here, and were identified as important maternal and zygotic modulators of Wnt signaling to initiate and specify ventral genes. Expression of ventral , , and was all obviously enhanced in either maternal or zygotic morphants, and in both heterozygous and homozygous mutants, but their expression was suppressed in embryos with over-expression of . Additionally, were revealed to suppress ventral fates in embryos Wnt/β-catenin1/Tcf signaling, complimentary to their roles in suppressing dorsal fates Wnt/β-catenin2 signaling. Moreover, were also revealed to obviously suppress the expression of induced by β-catenin2 rather than by β-catenin1, and the dorsal expression of in embryos was obviously suppressed by ectopic expression of . This study uncovers a novel dorsal-ventral patterning pathway, with and inhibiting ventral cells suppressing Wnt/β-catenin1/Tcf signaling and inducing dorsal cells indirectly suppressing β-catenin2-induced on the dorsal side of embryos.