Animal models for studying neural crest development: is the mouse different?
The neural crest is a uniquely vertebrate cell type and has been well studied in a number of model systems. Zebrafish, Xenopus and chick embryos largely show consistent requirements for specific genes in early steps of neural crest development. By contrast, knockouts of homologous genes in the mouse often do not exhibit comparable early neural crest phenotypes. In this Spotlight article, we discuss these species-specific differences, suggest possible explanations for the divergent phenotypes in mouse and urge the community to consider these issues and the need for further research in complementary systems.
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Elias H
EH
Barriga
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Centre, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
Paul A
PA
Trainor
Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA mbronner@caltech.edu r.mayor@ucl.ac.uk.
Marianne
M
Bronner
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK mbronner@caltech.edu r.mayor@ucl.ac.uk.
Roberto
R
Mayor
D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000196:embryology*; D010641:Phenotype; D013045:Species Specificity; D014981:Xenopus; D015027:Zebrafish
Chicken; Gene knockout; Mouse; Neural crest; Xenopus; Zebrafish