Gene-regulatory interactions in neural crest evolution and development.
In this review, we outline the gene-regulatory interactions driving neural crest development and compare these to a hypothetical network operating in the embryonic ectoderm of the cephalochordate amphioxus. While the early stages of ectodermal patterning appear conserved between amphioxus and vertebrates, later activation of neural crest-specific factors at the neural plate border appears to be a vertebrate novelty. This difference may reflect co-option of genetic pathways which conferred novel properties upon the evolving vertebrate neural plate border, potentiating the evolution of definitive neural crest.
Meulemans
Daniel
D
California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena 91125, USA.
Bronner-Fraser
Marianne
M
D000818:Animals; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000196:embryology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology*; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction