Dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) arise from trunk neural crest cells that emerge from the dorsal neuroepithelium and coalesce into segmental streams that migrate ventrally along the developing somites. Proper formation of DRGs involves not only normal trunk neural crest migration, but also the ability of DRG progenitors to pause at a particular target location where they can receive DRG-promoting sig...

Schwann cells, the myelinating glia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), originate from multipotent neural crest cells that also give rise to other cells, including neurons, melanocytes, chondrocytes, and smooth muscle cells. The transcription factor Sox10 is required for peripheral glia specification. However, all neural crest cells express Sox10 and the mechanisms directing neural crest ce...

Classic studies using avian model systems have demonstrated that cardiac neural crest cells are required for proper development of the cardiovascular system. Environmental influences that perturb neural crest development cause congenital heart defects in laboratory animals and in man. However, little progress has been made in determining molecular programs specifically regulating cardiac neural...

During vertebrate development, neural crest cells migrate from the dorsal neural tube and give rise to pigment cells and most peripheral ganglia. To study these complex processes it is helpful to make use of in vitro techniques, but the transient and morphologically ill-defined nature of neural crest cells makes it difficult to isolate a pure population of undifferentiated cells. We have used s...

Myc interacting zinc finger protein-1 (Miz1) is a transcription factor known to regulate cell cycle- and cell adhesion-related genes in cancer. Here we show that Miz1 also plays a critical role in neural crest development. In the chick, Miz1 is expressed throughout the neural plate and closing neural tube. Its morpholino-mediated knockdown affects neural crest precursor survival, leading to red...

The vertebrate neural crest is a population of migratory cells that originates in the dorsal aspect of the embryonic neural tube. These cells undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), delaminate from the neural tube and migrate extensively to generate an array of differentiated cell types. Elucidating the gene regulatory networks involved in neural crest cell induction, migration a...

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 ...

Orthotopic transplantation experiments have shown that in birds, under normal conditions, mesectodermal capabilities seem restricted to the cephalic neural crest down to the level of the 5th somite. In the present study the mesectodermal capabilities of trunk and lumbar neural crest were investigated at early stages of development by heterotopic, heterospecific transplantation of the neural pri...

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...

The proper function of the craniofacial skeleton requires the proper shaping of many individual skeletal elements. Neural crest cells generate much of the craniofacial skeleton and morphogenesis of skeletal elements occurs in transient, reiterated structures termed pharyngeal arches. The shape of individual elements depends upon intrinsic patterning within the neural crest as well as extrinsic ...