Neural crest emigration: From start to stop.
Within the dynamic context of a developing embryo, the multicellular patterns formed are extraordinarily precise. Through cell-cell communication, neighboring progenitors coordinate their activities, sequentially generating distinct tissues. The development of the dorsal neural tube remarkably illustrates this principle. It first generates neural crest (NC) cells, precursors of most of the peripheral nervous system, and then becomes the roof plate (RP) of the central nervous system. While the molecular network regulating emigration of NC progenitors has been extensively studied, the mechanisms by which dorsal neural tube precursors transit from an initial NC fate to a definitive RP identity remain widely open to investigation. Critical differences exist between premigratory NC and RP cells. Whereas the former extensively proliferate and undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition that generates cellular migrations, the latter progressively exit the cell cycle and regain epithelial traits including apico-basal polarity and regeneration of a laminin-containing basement membrane. To understand this transition, the nature of the cross-talk between these two sequentially forming progenitor subsets should be unraveled, including the identity and mode of action of signals that, on the one hand, induce the arrest of NC emigration, and, on the other hand, promote formation of a definitive RP.
['Kalcheim|Chaya|C|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4612-9438']
D000818:Animals D002454:Cell Differentiation D002465:Cell Movement D047108:Embryonic Development D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental D006801:Humans D009432:Neural Crest D054259:Neural Tube
neural tube roof plate epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition BMP cell fate cell proliferation