title: Coordination of progenitor specification and growth in mouse and chick spinal cord.
abstract: Development requires tissue growth as well as cell diversification. To address how these processes are coordinated, we analyzed the development of molecularly distinct domains of neural progenitors in the mouse and chick neural tube. We show that during development, these domains undergo changes in size that do not scale with changes in overall tissue size. Our data show that domain proportions are first established by opposing morphogen gradients and subsequently controlled by domain-specific regulation of differentiation rate but not differences in proliferation rate. Regulation of differentiation rate is key to maintaining domain proportions while accommodating both intra- and interspecies variations in size. Thus, the sequential control of progenitor specification and differentiation elaborates pattern without requiring that signaling gradients grow as tissues expand.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW71AA, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kicheva
authors.affiliation: Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria, Am Campus 1, A - 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bollenbach
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW71AA, UK.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW71AA, UK. Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Helena Pérez
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW71AA, UK. Department of Biochemistry, The University of Hong Kong, 3/F Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong. Division of Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lovell-Badge
authors.affiliation: Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Vasso
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Episkopou
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW71AA, UK. jbrisco@nimr.mrc.ac.uk.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Briscoe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002642:Chick Embryo; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D054259:Neural Tube / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000196:embryology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*