To proliferate or to die: role of Id3 in cell cycle progression and survival of neural crest progenitors.
The neural crest is a unique population of mitotically active, multipotent progenitors that arise at the vertebrate neural plate border. Here, we show that the helix-loop-helix transcriptional regulator Id3 has a novel role in cell cycle progression and survival of neural crest progenitors in Xenopus. Id3 is localized at the neural plate border during gastrulation and neurulation, overlapping the domain of neural crest induction. Morpholino oligonucleotide-mediated depletion of Id3 results in the absence of neural crest precursors and a resultant loss of neural crest derivatives. This appears to be mediated by cell cycle inhibition followed by cell death of the neural crest progenitor pool, rather than a cell fate switch. Conversely, overexpression of Id3 increases cell proliferation and results in expansion of the neural crest domain. Our data suggest that Id3 functions by a novel mechanism, independent of cell fate determination, to mediate the decision of neural crest precursors to proliferate or die.
Kee
Yun
Y
Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Bronner-Fraser
Marianne
M
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D051796:Inhibitor of Differentiation Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology*
D051796:Inhibitor of Differentiation Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense; C075640:ID3 protein, human