Neural Crest Cells

Neural Crest Cells

Evolution, Development and Disease
2014, Pages 3-26
Neural Crest Cells

Chapter 1 - The Neural Crest, a Fourth Germ Layer of the Vertebrate Embryo: Significance in Chordate Evolution

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The term “fourth germ layer” has been used several times in the embryological literature with respect to the neural crest (NC). This is related to its remarkable features: pluripotency, attested by the large variety of the cell types that it yields, and the migratory properties of its component cells responsible for their widespread distribution throughout the vertebrate body. The NC, which underpins the origin of most of the vertebrate head, is a vertebrate innovation and considered to have played a key role in chordate evolution. In this chapter, we review the characteristics that have made vertebrates distinct from their protochordate ancestors, and we report new findings on chordates evolution that prefigure the apparition of vertebrates: migratory cells that are possible forerunners of the NC in the urochordate Ciona intestinalis and the presence in the rostral end of cephalochordates and hemichordates of a genetic scaffold where landmarks of the vertebrate brain can be recognized. A new role has been found for the NC in vertebrate evolution: the regulation of the development of the fore- and midbrain, through the production of anti-Bmp factors (like Noggin, Gremlin) controlling the production of Fgf8, an essential player in brain development at the early stages of neurogenesis.

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    The macroevolutionary origins of NCCs is much discussed in the literature [32–38]. Others propose that it occurred in an incremental manner through a combination of gene duplications, evolution of novel cis-regulatory elements, and co-option of existing sub-networks from other tissues to form the NCC gene regulatory network [32–38]. Discussed less often (but see [39,40]) is how the macroevolutionary history of NCCs facilitates their microevolutionary path and potential.

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    Evolution of vertebrates is intimately connected with the advent of the neural crest (Gans and Northcutt, 1983; Northcutt and Gans, 1983; Northcutt, 2005; Green et al., 2015). This embryonic cell population arises within the forming neural tube but then migrates into the periphery to contribute to a remarkable range of structures and cell types such as odontoblasts, facial bone and cartilage, pigment cells, glial cells of the peripheral nervous system, components of heart, etc. (Bronner and Ledouarin, 2012; Simões-Costa and Bronner, 2015; Hall, 2009; Le Douarin and Dupin, 2014). Given its contribution to a plethora of cell types, acquisition of this vertebrate-specific cell types was a key milestone in the evolutionary success of vertebrates on Earth (Gans and Northcutt, 1983; Forey and Janvier, 1994; Donoghue and Keating, 2014; Square et al., 2017).

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    The CNS, peripheral nervous system (PNS), epidermis and its appendages are among the organs derived from ectoderm [70]. As they are all analogous in embryological development, they inherently have molecular and enzymatic functions in common, and share analogous pathogenic mechanisms [71]. Many ectodermal skin dysplasias affect the nervous system and vice versa [72].

  • The Pluripotency of Neural Crest Cells and Their Role in Brain Development

    2016, Current Topics in Developmental Biology
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    Therefore, the presence of multipotent NC stem cells is maintained at late stages of development in various NCC postmigratory sites, such as PNS ganglia and nerves. Remarkably, even in the adult organism, many tissues, including the skin, heart, bone marrow, and many craniofacial and periocular structures were found to be the source of NC-derived multipotent progenitors (reviewed by Achilleos & Trainor, 2012; Dupin & Sommer, 2012; Kaltschmidt, Kaltschmidt, & Widera, 2012; Le Douarin & Dupin, 2014). Experiments based on the construction of chimeras between embryos of two species of birds, the quail and the chick, have shown that a large part of the skull and the entire facial skeleton originate from the CNC (Couly, Coltey, & Le Douarin, 1993; Le Lièvre, 1974; Le Lièvre & Le Douarin, 1975).

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