Ihh/Gli pathway is essential for proper neural crest cell migration in Xenopus laevis

MARÍA BELÉN PALACIO; SANTIAGO CERRIZUELA; MERCEDES GUADALUPE GARAY; ROBERTO MAYOR; MANUEL J. AYBAR

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Latin American Society for Developmental Biology 2019 Meeting; 2019

LASDB

The neural crest (NC) is a multipotent and migratory cell population that is unique to vertebrate embryos whose behavior has been linked to malignant metastasis. The NC gives rise to a diverse variety of cellular types and tissues such as cartilages, bone, connective tissue, endocrine and pigmentary cells, neurons and glia. The Indian Hedgehog (Ihh) signalling pathway plays a role in Xenopus laevis NC formation, specification and maintenance. gli2 is an effector of this pathway, and can act both as a transcriptional activator or repressor in different situations. Evidence indicates that the Hedgehog ligands control NC migration, and we have demonstrated that these transcription factors are the ones involved in such control. Taking advantage of the pharmacological inhibitor GANT61 we blocked Gli2 in vitro and observed the cell behavior when the pathway activity was disrupted. A significant reduction in cell dispersion, which is consistent with the reduction in NC migration when treated with the same inhibitor in vivo was observed. Live imaging of the cells treated with the inhibitor showed the inability of the cells to start the migration away from the cluster and to keep migrating. Loss of function experiments showed that gli2 is required for cadherin expression in NC cells during migration. Our results demonstrated that the Ihh/gli pathway is required for a proper NC migration.