INVESTIGADORES
TRIBULO Celeste
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Induction and development of neural crest in Xenopus
Autor/es:
R. MAYOR; S. VILLANUEVA; F. BASTIDAS; A. GLAVIC; C. TRÍBULO; M. AYBAR; E. RODRÍGUEZ; G. ACUÑA; S. HONORÉ
Lugar:
La serena, Chile
Reunión:
Congreso; XIII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Chilena de Reproducción y Desarrollo; 2002
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Chilena de Reproducción y Desarrollo
Resumen:
The neural crest cell is a migratory embryonic cell population that forms at the border between the neural plate and the future epidermis. This border of the neural plate, or neural plate border, corresponds to the neural fold. The neural fold surround the entire neural plate but only the lateral and posterior portion of the fold give  rise to the neural crest cells, while the anterior neural fold differentiate as forebrain. We will analyze some aspects concerning the specification of the neural crest at the lateral-posterior border of the neural plate. We have shown that an interaction between neural plate and epidermis is enough to induce neural crest cells, and currently this seems the most accepted model for neural crest induction. However, there are several results in amphibian and zebrafish embryos that suggest a model based on a BMP gradient for neural crest specification. We have shown that levels of BMP signalling intermediate to those that specify neural plate and epidermis play a role in establishing neural plate border fates, including neural crest. Our recent results show that in order to induce neural crest properly a posteriorizing signal coming form the posterior mesoderm pattern the neural plate border as anterior neural fold (forebrain) and posterior neural fold (neural crest). The molecular nature of this posteriorizing signal seems to be the same as that for the posteriorization of neural plate: FGF, Wnt-8 and retinoic acid. We propose a general model for neural crest induction. Finally, once the neural crest are induced a genetic program is activated in those cells. We are studying the function of several genes involved in this program, such as members of the Snail and the Sox family.