The vertebrate neural crest is a migratory stem cell population that arises within the central nervous system. Here, we combine embryological techniques with array technology to describe 83 genes that provide the first gene expression profile of a newly induced neural crest cell. This profile contains numerous novel markers of neural crest precursors and reveals previously unrecognized similari...

The neural crest plays a crucial part in cardiac development. Cells of the cardiac subpopulation of cranial neural crest migrate from the hindbrain into the outflow tract of the heart where they contribute to the septum that divides the pulmonary and aortic channels. In Splotch mutant mice, which lack a functional Pax3 gene, migration of cardiac neural crest is deficient and aorticopulmonary se...

The neural crest is a migratory, multipotent cell type that forms a vast array of vertebrate structures including the craniofacial skeleton and peripheral nervous system (Le Douarin and Kalcheim, 1999). Abnormalities in the ability of neural crest cells to reach precise target sites cause myriad birth defects. Unraveling the mechanisms that generate neural crest migratory patterns is essential ...

Endothelin signaling is essential for neural crest development, and dysregulated Endothelin signaling is associated with several neural crest-related disorders, including Waardenburg and other syndromes. However, despite the crucial roles of this pathway in neural crest development and disease, the transcriptional effectors directly activated by Endothelin signaling during neural crest developm...

Neural crest cells arise from the border of the neural plate and epidermal ectoderm,migrate extensively and differentiate into diverse cell types during vertebrate embryogenesis. Althoughmuch has been learnt about growth factor signals and gene regulatory networks that regulate neural crest development, limited information is available on how epigenetic mechanisms control this process. In this ...

Cranial neural crest cells migrate in a precisely segmented manner to form cranial ganglia, facial skeleton and other derivatives. Here, we investigate the mechanisms underlying this patterning in the axolotl embryo using a combination of tissue culture, molecular markers, scanning electron microscopy and vital dye analysis. In vitro experiments reveal an intrinsic component to segmental migrat...

Trunk neural crest cells migrate extensively and give rise to diverse cell types, including cells of the sensory and autonomic nervous systems. Previously, we demonstrated that many premigratory trunk neural crest cells give rise to descendants with distinct phenotypes in multiple neural crest derivatives. The results are consistent with the idea that neural crest cells are multipotent prior to...

T H E relations between the neural crest on the one hand and the neuromeres and their precursors the proneuromeres on the other hand have never been fully described. Many authors have, however, shown that the cranial ganglia lie level with every second neuromere, so that ganglion V lies level with neuromere VII, ganglion VII-VIII level with neuromere IX, and ganglion IX-X level with neuromere X...

There is evidence in Xenopus and zebrafish embryos that the neural crest/neural folds are specified at the border of the neural plate by a precise threshold concentration of a Bmp gradient. In order to understand the molecular mechanism by which a gradient of Bmp is able to specify the neural crest, we analyzed how the expression of Bmp targets, the Msx genes, is regulated and the role that Msx...

The development of the neural crest up to the stage where they leave the neural tube can be observed as a series of concatenated but independent events that involve dorsalization of the neural plate/neural tube, neural crest induction, segregation and stabilization, epithelial to mesenchymal transition and delamination. During all these processes, the nascent neural crest cells are subjected to...