Kidneys Found W'nting

Weeks of strikes by rubbish collectors in 1979 saw piles of waste blocking pavements across the UK. Waste removal is vital to keep a country going and is no less important in the human body. When your kidneys go on strike the consequences of accumulating waste can be fatal. Kidneys remove waste through a complex system of filters and ducts. Defects in the development of this system are behind a group of congenital kidney diseases called CAKUT. The molecular causes of CAKUT are unclear. Researchers now reveal that the signalling molecule Wnt5a is important for kidney development. Imaging kidneys in mouse embryos, they found removing Wnt5a caused defects including duplicated ducts, small kidneys, and deformed lobes (second to fourth panels), compared to controls (first panel). More digging revealed that a Wnt5a mutation, found in human kidney disease, caused reduced Wnt5a signalling. So it seems Wnt5a may be important in CAKUT.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Ilkka Pietilä and colleagues
• Laboratory of Developmental Biology, Oulu Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Biocenter Oulu and Infotech Oulu, and Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS One, January 2016