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1: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 May 17;102(20):7192-7. Epub 2005 May 9.Click here to read Click here to read Links

Late-emigrating neural crest cells in the roof plate are restricted to a sensory fate by GDF7.

Lo L, Dormand EL, Anderson DJ.

Division of Biology 216-76, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

Lineage-tracing experiments have shown that some premigratory neural crest cells generate both sensory (S) and autonomic (A) derivatives, whereas others generate only S derivatives. Whether this lineage heterogeneity reflects random variation in a homogeneous population or an early sensory specification of some premigratory crest cells has not been clear. Using Cre recombinase-based fate mapping, we show that GDF7, which is exclusively expressed in the roof plate, marks neural crest cells with a 10-fold higher bias to the sensory lineage than those marked (at the same stage of development) by an inducible Wnt1-Cre, which is expressed more broadly in the dorsal neural tube. In vitro, GDF7 has potent sensory neuron-inducing activity. These data suggest that some premigratory crest cells are deterministically restricted to the S lineage and implicate GDF7 itself in this restriction process.

PMID: 15883363 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC1091754