Sp5 and Sp8 recruit β-catenin and Tcf1-Lef1 to select enhancers to activate Wnt target gene transcription.

Abstract

The ancient, highly conserved, Wnt signaling pathway regulates cell fate in all metazoans. We have previously shown that combined null mutations of the specificity protein (Sp) 1/Klf-like zinc-finger transcription factors Sp5 and Sp8 (i.e., Sp5/8) result in an embryonic phenotype identical to that observed when core components of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway are mutated; however, their role in Wnt signal transduction is unknown. Here, we show in mouse embryos and differentiating embryonic stem cells that Sp5/8 are gene-specific transcriptional coactivators in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Sp5/8 bind directly to GC boxes in Wnt target gene enhancers and to adjacent, or distally positioned, chromatin-bound T-cell factor (Tcf) 1/lymphoid enhancer factor (Lef) 1 to facilitate recruitment of β-catenin to target gene enhancers. Because Sp5 is itself directly activated by Wnt signals, we propose that Sp5 is a Wnt/β-catenin pathway-specific transcript on factor that functions in a feed-forward loop to robustly activate select Wnt target genes.