Transiently Active Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Is Not Required but Must Be Silenced for Stem Cell Function during Muscle Regeneration

Adult muscle's exceptional capacity for regeneration is mediated by muscle stem cells, termed satellite cells. As with many stem cells, Wnt/β-catenin signaling has been proposed to be critical in satellite cells during regeneration. Using new genetic reagents, we explicitly test in vivo whether Wnt/β-catenin signaling is necessary and sufficient within satellite cells and their derivatives for regeneration. We find that signaling is transiently active in transit-amplifying myoblasts, but is not required for regeneration or satellite cell self-renewal. Instead, downregulation of transiently activated β-catenin is important to limit the regenerative response, as continuous regeneration is deleterious. Wnt/β-catenin activation in adult satellite cells may simply be a vestige of their developmental lineage, in which β-catenin signaling is critical for fetal myogenesis. In the adult, surprisingly, we show that it is not activation but rather silencing of Wnt/β-catenin signaling that is important for muscle regeneration.