Abstract

The adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc) protein regulates diverse effector pathways essential for tissue homeostasis. Truncating oncogenic mutations in Apc removing its Wnt pathway and microtubule regulatory domains drives intestinal epithelia tumorigenesis. Exuberant cell proliferation is one well-established consequence of oncogenic Wnt pathway activity however, the contribution of other de-regulated molecular circuits to tumorigenesis has not been fully examined.

Using in vivo and organoid models of intestinal epithelial tumorigenesis we find that Wnt pathway activity controls intestinal epithelial villi and crypt structure, morphological features lost upon Apc inactivation. While the Wnt pathway target gene c-Myc has critical roles in regulating cell proliferation and tumorigenesis, Apc specification of intestinal epithelial morphology is independent of the Wnt-responsive Myc-335 regulatory element.

We further demonstrate that Apc inactivation disrupts the microtubule cytoskeleton and consequently localisation of organelles without affecting the distribution of the actin cytoskeleton and associated components. Our data indicates direct control over microtubule dynamics by Apc through an independent molecular circuit.

Our study stratifies three independent Apc effector pathways in the intestinal epithelial controlling: (i) proliferation, (ii) microtubule dynamics and (iii) epithelial morphology.