King's College London

During early development Wnt signaling has a key role in patterning the prospective nervous system by regulation of cell fate specification, cell polarity, and cell migration. Wnt also coordinates the formation of neural circuits on multiple levels such as transcription, cell cycle, and asymmetric cell division. Here we review the latest findings addressing the role of canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling during developmental and adult neurogenesis; exploring the connection of in vivo data to the recently described Wnt-driven asymmetric stem cell division in vitro. Understanding how Wnt orchestrates these processes in a spatiotemporal manner during corticogenesis will be of crucial importance for the development of new strategies to regenerate neuronal circuits.