Mesoderm Development Candidate 2 (MESDC2)

The predicted 233-amino acid protein contains at least 1 putative transmembrane region. Northern blot analysis detected expression in all tissues tested except peripheral blood leukocytes.Mesd functions in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as a specific chaperone for Lrp5 and Lrp6, which in conjunction with frizzled are coreceptors for canonical Wnt signal transduction. The authors proposed that disruption of embryonic polarity and mesoderm differentiation in Mesd-deficient embryos likely results from a primary defect in Wnt signaling. However, phenotypic differences between Mesd-deficient and Wnt3 -/- embryos suggested that Mesd may function on related members of the LDLR family. LDLR family members mediate diverse cellular processes ranging from cargo transport to signaling.