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Developmental Biology Neuropilin 1 signaling guides neural crest cells to coordinate pathway choice with cell specification Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, United Kingdom 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: c.ruhrberg/at/ucl.ac.uk Edited by Alex L. Kolodkin, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and accepted by the Editorial Board February 18, 2009 Author contributions: Q.S. and C.R. designed research; Q.S., C.H.M., and J.M.V. performed research; Q.S. and C.R. analyzed data; and C.R. wrote the paper. Received November 12, 2008. Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. Abstract Neural crest cells (NCCs) are highly motile embryonic stem cells that delaminate from the neuroectoderm early during vertebrate embryogenesis and differentiate at defined target sites into various essential cell types. To reach their targets, NCCs follow 1 of 3 sequential pathways that correlate with NCC fate. The firstborn NCCs travel ventrally alongside intersomitic blood vessels to form sympathetic neuronal progenitors near the dorsal aorta, while the lastborn NCCs migrate superficially beneath the epidermis to give rise to melanocytes. Yet, most NCCs enter the somites to form the intermediate wave that gives rise to sympathetic and sensory neurons. Here we show that the repulsive guidance cue SEMA3A and its receptor neuropilin 1 (NRP1) are essential to direct the intermediate wave NCC precursors of peripheral neurons from a default pathway alongside intersomitic blood vessels into the anterior sclerotome. Thus, loss of function for either gene caused excessive intersomitic NCC migration, and this led to ectopic neuronal differentiation along both the anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes of the trunk. The choice of migratory pathway did not affect the specification of NCCs, as they retained their commitment to differentiate into sympathetic or sensory neurons, even when they migrated on an ectopic dorsolateral path that is normally taken by melanocyte precursors. We conclude that NRP1 signaling coordinates pathway choice with NCC fate and therefore confines neuronal differentiation to appropriate locations. Keywords: semaphorin, sensory neuron, sympathetic neuron, peripheral nervous system Neural crest cells (NCCs) are embryonic stem cells that delaminate from the neuroectoderm early during vertebrate development and then disseminate through the body to differentiate at defined target sites into various cell types (1). In the trunk, they give rise to the melanocytes and all neurons and glia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). To reach their targets, the trunk NCCs of higher vertebrates migrate along 1 of 3 sequential pathways, which correlate with NCC fate (2–5). The choice of migratory pathway is intimately linked to somitogenesis, the process in which mesodermal structures called somites are added to the elongating embryo in a rostrocaudal fashion. Thus, at the level of each newly formed somite, the firstborn NCCs travel ventrally alongside intersomitic blood vessels and form sympathetic neuronal progenitors near the dorsal aorta (early NCC wave), whereas the lastborn NCCs migrate superficially beneath the epidermis to form melanocytes in the skin (late NCC wave). Yet, most NCCs travel ventromedially into the anterior sclerotome of each somite (intermediate wave). These NCCs either traverse the sclerotome to give rise to sympathetic neurons at the dorsal aorta, or they stall within the somite to differentiate into sensory neurons. A fundamental, yet unanswered question therefore is how NCC migration is directed into the 3 temporally and spatially distinct pathways. Two other key questions are whether NCCs need to migrate through the sclerotome to receive instructive signals for acquisition of a sensory fate and how the choice of migratory pathway impacts on PNS segmentation. To answer these questions, we identified the molecular mechanism that controls the choice between the intersomitic and sclerotome routes and examined how the disruption of this mechanism impacts on gangliogenesis in the trunk. Here we show that a previously described ligand/receptor pair consisting of the repulsive guidance cue SEMA3A (6) and its transmembrane receptor neuropilin 1 (NRP1) (7, 8) plays a hitherto unidentified role in controlling trunk NCC migration. Thus, loss of SEMA3A/NRP1 signaling caused intermediate wave NCC precursors to migrate into the intersomitic furrow at the expense of the anterior sclerotome and thereby disrupted the rostrocaudal and dorsoventral patterning of the PNS ganglia in the trunk. Results Even though SEMA3A collapses chick NCCs in vitro (9), NRP1 was reported to be dispensable for trunk NCC patterning in the mouse (10). We therefore asked if SEMA3A and NRP1 control a previously unidentified mechanism in trunk NCC migration. Consistent with this idea, we found that their expression at 9.5 days post coitum (dpc) in the mouse correlated with a precisely controlled switch of NCC migration from the intersomitic to the sclerotome path (Fig. 1
The Sema3a gene was expressed in a reciprocal pattern to NRP1 (Figs. 1 Because early wave, but not intermediate wave NCCs were previously proposed to follow blood vessels in the intersomitic furrow (2, 3), we compared the position of NCCs to that of blood vessels by double immunolabeling for p75 and the vascular endothelial marker endomucin (15). This analysis confirmed that only few NCCs normally traveled alongside blood vessels in the intersomitic furrow, but that the majority of NCCs instead entered the largely avascular anterior sclerotome at 9.5 dpc (Fig. 1 Since our expression analysis was consistent with a model in which SEMA3A prevents NRP1-expressing trunk NCCs from migrating into the intersomitic furrow to promote NCC entry into the anterior sclerotome (Fig. 1
NRP1 is not only expressed in NCCs, but also in vascular endothelial cells and somitic mesenchyme (Figs. 1 Given the prominent NCC defect of mutants deficient in SEMA3A/NRP1 signaling, we next asked why an earlier report erroneously concluded that NCC migration in Nrp1-null mice was normal and that NRP1 was essential only to pattern the neuronal progeny of sympathetic NCCs (10). We noted that this previous work relied on a marker that labels blood vessels in addition to NCCs, the 4E9R antibody (20). We therefore addressed if mutant NCCs migrated in close proximity to blood vessels, as this would make them difficult to visualize with a dual specificity reagent such as 4E9R. Consistent with this idea, double labeling of Sema3a-null mutants and Nrp1-mutants defective in semaphorin signaling with p75 and endomucin confirmed that ectopic NCCs followed the trajectory of blood vessels (Fig. 4 Because the NCC precursors of peripheral neurons are diverted from the usual sclerotome path in Sema3a- and Nrp1-null mutants, we next investigated the impact of these mutations on sensory and sympathetic gangliogenesis. We first used Sox10 as a marker to follow the fate of ectopic NCCs, as it is not only present in the glial progeny of NCCs, but is also expressed transiently in neurogenic NCCs to initiate a transcriptional program for neuronal differentiation (21). At 9.75 dpc, when NCCs begin to condense into sensory ganglia (Fig. 5
We next examined if the ectopic Sox10-positive NCC derivatives in Nrp1-null mutants were capable of differentiating into neurons with the Tuj1 antibody, which recognizes neuronal microtubules (22). We observed Tuj1-positive ectopic cell clusters in both dorsal and ventral positions in 3/3 cases (Fig. 5
Discussion Trunk NCCs giving rise to neurons or glia usually migrate along a ventromedial path, with a minor first wave traveling through the intersomitic boundary and a second major wave migrating through the anterior sclerotome. We demonstrate here that the switch from the intersomitic to the sclerotome path is a pre requisite for the proper pattering of the PNS and that it is controlled by SEMA3A/NRP1 signaling. Firstly, Sema3a and Nrp1 are expressed in a complementary fashion during trunk NCC migration: Sema3a in the posterior sclerotome and the entire dermomyotome, and Nrp1 in NCCs that migrate through the sclerotome (Figs. 1 Pathway sharing of early NCCs and blood vessels likely promotes the recruitment of NCCs to the dorsal aorta to seed the sympathetic primordia. However, the precise role of blood vessels in guiding NCCs will have to await the identification of genetic mouse models that disrupt vascular growth in the intersomitic boundaries without perturbing the general blood supply essential for embryogenesis. Presently, there are 2 alternative explanations why NCCs preferentially travel on ectopic vascular pathways in the absence of inhibitory guidance signals provided by SEMA3A/NRP1. On the one hand, blood vessels assemble an extracellular matrix rich in fibronectin (28), an effective substrate for NCC migration (29). Alternatively, NCCs and blood vessels may share a similar preference for matrix molecules and therefore invade similar regions independently of each other. In support of the latter hypothesis, early wave NCCs do not migrate exclusively alongside blood vessels in the intersomitic furrow, but also track the boundary between the anterior and posterior sclerotome, just before blood vessels invade this space (Fig. 1 Even though early sympathetic NCCs chose an intersomitic pathway to reach the dorsal aorta, most NCCs in higher vertebrates travel in the intermediate wave through the somites, giving rise to sympathetic or sensory neurons in appropriate place (Figs. 1
The switch in NCC migration from the ventromedial to the dorsolateral path correlates with a change in developmental destiny and can be followed with specific markers. For example, ventromedially migrating NCCs express p75 and have a neuroglial fate, whereas cells on the dorsolateral path express TRP2 and yield melanocytes (32, 33). Thus, it has been hypothesized that prespecification before or just after their emigration from the neural tube allows different NCC populations to enter distinct paths (34). Our study provides physiological evidence for the idea that p75/NRP1 co-expressing NCCs are specified toward a neuroglial fate and that this fate is not altered even if these cells lose their normal guidance factors and adopt a pathway that is normally taken only by the NCC precursors of melanocytes. NCCs therefore do not need to migrate through the sclerotome to receive instructive signals for the acquisition of a sensory or sympathetic fate (Figs. 5 Methods Animals. To obtain mouse embryos of defined gestational ages, mice were mated in the evening, and the morning of vaginal plug formation was counted as 0.5 dpc. Somite numbers were used to stage-match embryos. Mice carrying a Sema3a- or Nrp1-null allele or a mutation that disrupts semaphorin-signaling through NRP1 have been described (16, 17, 19). Conditional null mutants for Nrp1 (17) were mated to mice expressing CRE recombinase under the control of the NCC-specific Wnt1 promoter (18) on a Nrp1+/− background. Mouse husbandry was performed in accordance with UK Home Office and institutional guidelines. Genotyping protocols can be supplied on request. In Situ Hybridization and Immunolabeling. In situ hybridization was performed according to a previously published method (36) with digoxigenin-labeled riboprobes transcribed from cDNA-containing plasmids (15, 35). Immunolabeling was performed as described (15) using the following primary antibodies: For NCCs, rabbit anti-p75 (gift of K. Deinhardt and G. Schiavo, Cancer Research UK, London); for blood vessels, rat anti-endomucin (Santa Cruz Biotechnology); for neurons, mouse anti-neuron-specific class beta III tubulin (Tuj1; Covance); for sympathetic neurons, rabbit anti-tyrosine hydroxylase (Chemicon). For images of samples that had been fluorescently immunolabeled after in situ hybridization, the bright field image was inverted, pseudocolored, and merged with the fluorescent image using Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Systems). Supporting Information
Acknowledgments. We thank Hajime Fujisawa, Masahiko Taniguchi, Andrew McMahon, Masahi Yanagisawa, David D. Ginty, and Alex L. Kolodkin for mouse strains. We thank the staff of the Biological Resources Unit for help with mouse husbandry. We are grateful to Matthew Golding for thoughtful comments on the manuscript. C.R. and coworkers are funded by the Medical Research Council, UK. Footnotes The authors declare no conflict of interest. This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.L.K. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board. This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0811521106/DCSupplemental. References 1. Le Douarin NM, Kalcheim C. The Neural Crest. 2nd Ed. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999. 2. Loring JF, Erickson CA. Neural crest cell migratory pathways in the trunk of the chick embryo. Dev Biol. 1987;121:220–236. [PubMed] 3. Erickson CA. Control of neural crest cell dispersion in the trunk of the avian embryo. 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Dev Biol. 1987 May; 121(1):220-36.
[Dev Biol. 1987]Dev Biol. 1985 Sep; 111(1):138-57.
[Dev Biol. 1985]Dev Biol. 1992 May; 151(1):251-72.
[Dev Biol. 1992]Dev Biol. 1982 Oct; 93(2):324-43.
[Dev Biol. 1982]Cell. 1993 Oct 22; 75(2):217-27.
[Cell. 1993]Development. 1999 May; 126(10):2181-9.
[Development. 1999]Development. 2002 Feb; 129(3):671-80.
[Development. 2002]J Neurobiol. 1997 Jun 20; 32(7):722-46.
[J Neurobiol. 1997]Development. 1987 Feb; 99(2):261-72.
[Development. 1987]Development. 1992 Oct; 116(2):297-307.
[Development. 1992]Dev Biol. 1987 May; 121(1):220-36.
[Dev Biol. 1987]Dev Biol. 1985 Sep; 111(1):138-57.
[Dev Biol. 1985]Development. 2007 May; 134(10):1833-43.
[Development. 2007]Neuron. 1997 Nov; 19(5):995-1005.
[Neuron. 1997]Dev Cell. 2003 Jul; 5(1):45-57.
[Dev Cell. 2003]Development. 2000 Apr; 127(8):1607-16.
[Development. 2000]Neuron. 1997 Sep; 19(3):519-30.
[Neuron. 1997]Development. 2002 Feb; 129(3):671-80.
[Development. 2002]Dev Dyn. 1996 Aug; 206(4):368-78.
[Dev Dyn. 1996]Neuron. 2003 Apr 10; 38(1):17-31.
[Neuron. 2003]Cell Motil Cytoskeleton. 1990; 17(2):118-32.
[Cell Motil Cytoskeleton. 1990]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Jun; 75(6):2986-90.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978]Neuron. 1999 Dec; 24(4):861-70.
[Neuron. 1999]Science. 1992 Jun 12; 256(5063):1555-60.
[Science. 1992]Development. 2004 Aug; 131(16):3859-70.
[Development. 2004]Development. 1999 May; 126(10):2181-9.
[Development. 1999]Development. 2002 Feb; 129(3):671-80.
[Development. 2002]Dev Dyn. 1996 Aug; 206(4):368-78.
[Dev Dyn. 1996]Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2002 Jun 1; 22(6):927-33.
[Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2002]Cell Tissue Res. 1982; 221(3):521-49.
[Cell Tissue Res. 1982]Development. 2006 Jan; 133(1):99-106.
[Development. 2006]Dev Biol. 2008 Mar 15; 315(2):448-58.
[Dev Biol. 2008]Development. 1992 Aug; 115(4):1111-9.
[Development. 1992]Development. 1995 Mar; 121(3):915-24.
[Development. 1995]Dev Dyn. 2007 Jan; 236(1):1-19.
[Dev Dyn. 2007]Development. 2008 May; 135(9):1605-13.
[Development. 2008]Neuron. 1997 Nov; 19(5):995-1005.
[Neuron. 1997]Dev Cell. 2003 Jul; 5(1):45-57.
[Dev Cell. 2003]Neuron. 1997 Sep; 19(3):519-30.
[Neuron. 1997]Development. 2000 Apr; 127(8):1607-16.
[Development. 2000]Cell. 1993 Dec 31; 75(7):1401-16.
[Cell. 1993]Development. 2007 May; 134(10):1833-43.
[Development. 2007]Development. 2008 May; 135(9):1605-13.
[Development. 2008]