Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol 2013 Jan 01;22:247-59. doi: 10.1002/wdev.76.

Signaling and transcriptional regulation in neural crest specification and migration: lessons from xenopus embryos.

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The neural crest is a population of highly migratory and multipotent cells, which arises from the border of the neural plate in vertebrate embryos. In the last few years, the molecular actors of neural crest early development have been intensively studied, notably by using the frog embryo, as a prime model for the analysis of the earliest embryonic inductions. In addition, tremendous progress has been made in understanding the molecular and cellular basis of Xenopus cranial neural crest migration, by combining in vitro and in vivo analysis. In this review, we examine how the action of previously known neural crest-inducing signals [bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), wingless-int (Wnt), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)] is controlled by newly discovered modulators during early neural plate border patterning and neural crest specification. This regulation controls the induction of key transcription factors that cooperate to pattern the premigratory neural crest progenitors. These data are discussed in the perspective of the gene regulatory network that controls neural and neural crest patterning. We then address recent findings on noncanonical Wnt signaling regulation, cell polarization, and collective cell migration which highlight how cranial neural crest cells populate their target tissue, the branchial arches, in vivo. More than ever, the neural crest stands as a powerful and attractive model to decipher complex vertebrate regulatory circuits in vivo.

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Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: acta4 adam13 bmp4 cdc42 cdh11 cxcr4 efnb2 foxd3 gbx2.1 hes4 kremen1 lrig3 meis3 msx1 myc nrarp otx2 pax3 pax7 plxna1 ptk7 rac1 rho rhoj rhou sdc4 snai2 snw1 sox10 stat3 tfap2a twist1 uqcc6 wnt1 wnt11b wnt3a wnt7b zic1


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