title: Xenopus as a model organism to study heterotrimeric G-protein pathway during collective cell migration of neural crest.
abstract: Collective cell migration is essential in many fundamental aspects of normal development, like morphogenesis, organ formation, wound healing, and immune responses, as well as in the etiology of severe pathologies, like cancer metastasis. In spite of the huge amount of data accumulated on cell migration, such a complex process involves many molecular actors, some of which still remain to be functionally characterized. One of these signals is the heterotrimeric G-protein pathway that has been studied mainly in gastrulation movements. Recently we have reported that Ric-8A, a GEF for Gα proteins, plays an important role in neural crest migration in Xenopus development. Xenopus neural crest cells, a highly migratory embryonic cell population induced at the border of the neural plate that migrates extensively in order to differentiate in other tissues during development, have become a good model to understand the dynamics that regulate cell migration. In this review, we aim to provide sufficient evidence supporting how useful Xenopus model with its different tools, such as explants and transplants, paired with improved in vivo imaging techniques, will allow us to tackle the multiple signaling mechanisms involved in neural crest cell migration.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Toro-Tapia
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villaseca
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuentealba
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torrejón
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D020962:Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D054258:Neural Plate / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D020962:Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins
keywords: Gα protein; Ric-8A; cell polarity; chemotaxis; collective migration; signaling