title: TGFβ superfamily signaling in the neural crest lineage.
abstract: The neural crest cell (NCC) lineage is often referred to as the fourth germ layer in embryos, as its wide range of migration and early colonization of multiple tissues and organ systems throughout the developing body is astounding. Many human birth defects are thought to have their origins within the NCC lineage. Exciting recent conditional mouse targeting and transgenic combinatorial suppression approaches have revealed that the Tgf-b superfamily is a key signaling pathway within the cardiac and cranial NCC subpopulations. Given the complexity of Tgf-b superfamily signaling and that multiple ligand and receptor combinations have already been shown to be expressed within the NCC subpopulations, and the difficulty in transgenically targeting entire signaling cascades, we review several up-to-date transgenic approaches that are revealing unexpected consequences.
authors: HB Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA. siconway@iupui.edu
authors: Simon J
authors: SJ
authors: Conway
authors: Vesa
authors: V
authors: Kaartinen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta