Injection of synthetic RNA encoding Hipk1 into the DMZ resulted in severe gastrulation and neural tube closure defects, demonstrated by a failure to close the blastopore and to fuse the neural tube. The percentage of dorsally-injected embryos with the severe gastrulation phenotype was dose-dependent, with higher doses producing more severe effects. In Ginsenoside-F4 contrast, injection of Hipk1 RNA into the ventral marginal zone resulted in less severely affected embryos with a shortened anterior-posterior length, but a nearly closed blastopore and normal neural tube. One feature of molecules involved in b-catenin-independent pathways, particularly the PCP pathway, is that over-expression phenotypes resemble loss-of-function phenotypes at both the cellular and embryonic level. Consistent with a role in such a pathway, phenotypes in Hipk1 morphants closely resembled those observed in embryos over-expressing Hipk1, including comparisons between dorsal versus ventral injections. When either Hipk1MO was injected into the DMZ, phenotypes included shortened embryos with defects in blastopore closure and in neural tube closure. Dsh is a critical signaling molecule involved in many Wntrelated activities during gastrulation including cell fate determination, cell shape, and cell movement. Although Dsh is expressed fairly ubiquitously, it exhibits variable intracellular localization, signaling activities, and protein interactions over the course of early X. laevis development. Consequently, it is important to identify binding partners of Dsh that mediate alternate developmental functions. In this study we have identified one such protein as the nuclear kinase Hipk1, and have shown that it also can interact with the Wnt/b-catenin transcriptional corepressor Tcf3. Proper germ layer specification reflected by Catharanthine sulfate induction of genes such as MyoD, Xbra, and otx2 is required to promote cell movements necessary for gastrulation. The combined disruptions in gene expression and cell movements exhibited by Hipk1 morphants are consistent with a role in activating bcatenin-dependent target genes in the involuting mesoderm, followed by effects on b-catenin-independent events in these tissues. Gain- and loss-of-function of several molecules involved in a b-catenin independent pathway produce the same or very similar convergent extension phenotypes, including Wnt11, Lrp6, Fz7, Stbm/Vang, and PKCd.