title: Pax6 regulates craniofacial form through its control of an essential cephalic ectodermal patterning center.
abstract: Normal patterning and morphogenesis of the complex skeletal structures of the skull requires an exquisite, reciprocal cross-talk between the embryonic cephalic epithelia and mesenchyme. The mesenchyme associated with the jaws and the optic and olfactory capsules is derived from a Hox-negative cranial neural crest (CNC) population that acts much as an equivalence group in its interactions with specific local cephalic epithelial signals. Craniofacial pattern and morphogenesis is therefore controlled in large part through the regulation of these local cephalic epithelial signals. Here, we demonstrate that Pax6 is essential to the formation and maturation of the complex cephalic ectodermal patterning centers that govern the development and morphogenesis of the upper jaws and associated nasal capsules. Previous examinations of the craniofacial skeletal defects associated with Pax6 mutations have suggested that they arise from an optic-associated blockage in the migration of a specific subpopulation of midbrain CNC to the lateral frontonasal processes. We have addressed an alternative explanation for the craniofacial skeletal defects. We show that in Pax6(SeyN/SeyN) mutants regional CNC is present by E9.25 while there is already specific disruption in the early ontogenetic elaboration of cephalic ectodermal expression, associated with the nascent lambdoidal junction, of secreted signaling factors (including Fgf8 and Bmp4) and transcription factors (including Six1 and Dlx5) essential for upper jaw and/or nasal capsular development. Pax6 therefore regulates craniofacial form, at stages when CNC has just arrived in the frontonasal region, through its control of surface cephalic ectodermal competence to form an essential craniofacial patterning center.
authors.affiliation: Department of Craniofacial Development, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Compagnucci
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fish
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwark
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tarabykin
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Depew
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019465:Craniofacial Abnormalities / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000196:embryology*; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008445:Maxillofacial Development / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000502:physiology*; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012886:Skull / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D005136:Eye Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; C000605732:Pax6 protein, mouse; D012097:Repressor Proteins